November 2006

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Mall Of America to huggers: No Mas!

Filed under: Business

In their short time together, the Hug Brigade (previously profiled here) has gathered to hug strangers on the Nicollet Mall, in Uptown, outside the Vikings-Packers game, and outside polling places on Election Day -- all without incident. Until last week, that is, when a small contingent of Huggers took to the Mall Of America to ease the pain of Black Friday warriors in need of a widdle snuggle.

According to Hugger Tabatha Robbins, the Brigade -- who this time out brandished "Free Hug" t-shirts but not signs -- hugged shoppers for two hours. Finally they were stopped by a security guard who said, "Sorry, but you guys can't do that anymore."

Robbins asked what they were doing wrong, and the guard told the three member-strong Brigade that soliciting is illegal at the Mall Of America.

Robbins says she "giggled" at the idea of free hugs being an act of solicitation, but didn't push it because they were hugged-out and ready to call it a day anyway. The group met up with a fellow Hug Brigade faction to wait for another hugger to get off work at Bubba Gump's, where the security guard confronted them again and... um, here's Robbins:

"He yelled at us again," she says. "I looked at him this time and said, 'What are we doing wrong? We are standing here waiting for a friend to get off of work.' He said, 'You have been warned once. If I catch you doing it again I will have to ask you to leave.'

"I asked him what he was talking about. He said, 'You are still giving people hugs.' I told him, 'No we are not.' He said, 'That person just came up and asked for a hug.' I was like, 'Yeah. Am I gonna deny someone a hug when they come up to me and ask?'"

Hell, no! But the Huggers cut their losses, told their worker friend they'd see her later, and left the Mall. "I found it so upsetting that people can't see the good in what we are trying to do," Robbins wrote in an email a couple hours after getting the hug heave-ho. "Doesn't 'soliciting' mean that you are asking for money or along those lines.... what part of FREE HUG do people not understand... lol."

"They were walking up to people randomly and hugging them," said Mall Of America spokesperson Julie Hansen. "It was intimidating to our visitors. They were told to cease hugging, and they didn't. People are here to shop and they don't know what [the huggers'] agenda is. They don't know if they're going to get mugged, or pick-pocketed, or what. It's not appropriate."

This weekend, the Hug Brigade moves on to more welcoming indoor confines: senior citizens homes and assisted living facilities.

Posted by Jim Walsh at November 30, 2006 4:34 PM | Comments (7)

 

11/30 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Learn more about Boulder-based DeVotchKa, performing at First Avenue tonight, in Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go.

The first black male soloist at the Met Opera is remembered at Corpus Obscura.

THESE DAYS

Saudi Arabia has warned that it will sue global tobacco firms unless they pay the full cost of treating patients suffering from smoking-related illness.

Women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man.

Sixty-three-year-old comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum, who overhauled the X-Men comic and helped popularize Marvel Comics in the 1970s, died Saturday while wearing Superman pajamas and covered with his Batman blanket.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Professor Batty blogs on cooking in the dark, covert reconnaissance in Iceland, and tonsillectomy-as-childhood-trauma at Flippism Is The Key.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

10 Things Your Casino Won't Tell You according to SmartMoney

World's Worst Superhero Names according to Wired

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country."

— Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), co-chair of the bipartisan House Immigration Reform Caucus

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 30, 2006 6:40 AM | Comments (4)

 

Where the streets have no record stores

Filed under: Business

It's no secret that the prognosis for independent record stores is bleak and only getting bleaker. But, for the hell of it, let's revisit the list of recent casualties on the Twin Cities scene. Two years ago, the renowned St. Paul metal mecca, the Root Cellar, shut down its storefront for an internet-only sales model. Last year, the venerable Let It Be Records followed suit and abandoned its downtown Minneapolis storefront. Earlier this month, Aardvark Records in northeast Minneapolis also went the virtual route. And now comes news that Know Name Records is folding its Dinkytown location.

According to longtime manager Chris Valenty, December 20 will be the last day for the store, which has operated in two different locations near the U of M for about a dozen years. "Students don't buy CDs anymore. We still get students in the store sometimes, but I think they're just looking at the CDs to figure out what they want to download," Valenty laments.

Know Name, which also sells smoking accessories, took another hit when a head shop opened nearby, according to Valenty. And then there is that other menace to the small time retailer: seemingly unsurmountable competition from big box outfits such as Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart. "They sell CDs for less than we can buy them," Valenty says.

Valenty, who says he has no idea what he'll do next for work, plans to host a farewell bash some time next month. "I just want to have a good death party, you know, go out on a good note."

Know Name's other outlet, located at 6005 Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis, will remain open.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at November 29, 2006 3:31 PM | Comments (0)

 

Incoming Minneapolis School Board: Attend

Filed under: Education

Two items the fresh meat for the MPS mill might want to read carefully

What a bummer we didn't elect Carla Bates to the Minneapolis School Board earlier this month. Not that she was running: According to her bio at Twin Cities Daily Planet, Bates is an instructional technology coordinator at the University of Minnesota and the mother of three MPS students. She's also the site's education editor, in which capacity she's penned an agenda for the new board's first 100 days that's ambitious and sensible--if politically sticky. You can read it here.

The gist: Bates proposes tackling the rest of the to-do list rejected superintendent candidate David Jennings laid down on his way out of his interim posting, most notably closing 10 half-filled schools and doing something about the Dickensian teacher-student ratios at the others. She also just comes right out and says a few things that seem obvious to most of us but don't seem to be appropriate topics for discussion among many educators and district administrators: Someone needs to help foot the bill for shipping erstwhile MPS kids to charters and for the disproportionate amount of special ed the district provides. Oh yeah--and pay some serious attention to in-school disciplinary issues.

Why didn't Bates run? Who knows, this is the first she's come to our attention. But there's a better than middling chance she, like most sensible critics of the district, would have gone screaming in the other direction if approached. The majority on the outgoing board may well be remembered as the cabal that robbed the listing ship at 807 Broadway of its meagre remaining credibility. They ignored Jennings, hired an unstable replacement whose drawn-out departure caused tectonic shifts in race relations in Minneapolis, drove talented staff to the 'burbs, and only accelerated families' rush to pull kids out of MPS schools in favor of any half-attractive alternative.

Which provides a tidy segue to the second item of interest on the 'net today: The Twin Cities have been selected as the site for a new Knowledge is Power Program school. To Bates' list we'd like to add an item: Close those half-empty schools if you must, but move heaven and earth to snare the new KIPP school for MPS.

Here's the PiPress' explanation of KIPP:

The Knowledge is Power Program started with one school in 1994. It now has 52 schools in 16 states and is recognized for having improved the performance of low-income and minority students....

Students at KIPP schools have longer school days and school years than their peers at other public schools. They're in class from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday and four hours every other Saturday. They also have school for three weeks during the summer.

KIPP also is known for intensive training for teachers and school leaders and for setting high expectations for staff. Teachers are given cell phones and are required to have them on at all times so students can call with homework questions.

Volumes have been written about what does and doesn't work in terms of reaching the disadvantaged students who are increasingly clustered in districts like MPS, and it's tempting to write off the buzz surrounding KIPP because of its resemblance to the rhetoric used to promote No Child Left Behind and other save the schools by killing them strategies. And KIPP, which gets huge foundation support most public school principals would sell their souls for, may still turn out to be the brave experiment du jour. In any case, the approach is conveniently detailed in Sunday's New York Times, and not all of it is going to be immediately palatable to the average practitioner of Minnesota Nice:

The schools...are not racially integrated. Most of the 70 or so schools that make up their three networks have only one or two white children enrolled, or none at all. Although as charter schools, their admission is open through a lottery to any student in the cities they serve, their clear purpose is to educate poor black and Hispanic children. The guiding principle for the four school leaders, all of whom are white, is an unexpected twist on the "separate but equal" standard: they assert that for these students, an "equal" education is not good enough. Students who enter middle school significantly behind grade level don't need the same good education that most American middle-class students receive; they need a better education, because they need to catch up. Toll, especially, is preoccupied with the achievement gap: her schools' stated mission is to close the gap entirely. "The promise in America is that if you work hard, if you make good decisions, that you'll be able to be successful," Toll explained to me. "And given the current state of public education in a lot of our communities, that promise is just not true. There's not a level playing field."

You can read the rest of the Times piece here.

Posted by Beth Hawkins at November 29, 2006 11:33 AM | Comments (4)

 

Do they have the Internets at the U of M Law School?

Filed under: Education

The Minnesota Daily reported yesterday on the ruckus currently unfolding at the U of M Law School over the hiring of Robert Delahunty to teach a Constitutional law course next semester. Delahunty formerly served in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. In that capacity he co-wrote one of the so-called "torture memos" that seemingly justified the psychological and physical abuse of detainees in the war on terrorism.

Delahunty joined the University of St. Thomas School of Law as a professor two years ago. The U of M is hiring him to teach a single class.

The Pioneer Press follows up on the story this morning. Amazingly law school officials tell the newspaper that they were not aware of Delahunty's connection to the controversial memo, which he authored with John Yoo. Which raises the question: How exactly do they vet adjunct professors at the law school?

At least nine U of M law school professors have signed on to a letter asking the school to reconsider the hiring decision. Read the document here.

Posted by Paul Demko at November 29, 2006 10:05 AM | Comments (9)

 

11/29 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

The Black Keys, Back-Up Plomo, and Transmission are just a few of the acts playing around town tonight. Check out Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go for a complete itinerary.

THESE DAYS

Scottish and Canadian researchers used a new form of magnetic resonance imaging to show sitting up straight places an unnecessary strain on your back.

With the release of Superman Returns on DVD, Papa John's Pizza is offering free pizza to Americans residing on Lois Lanes.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Computer programming info and internet news, with a little music and humor linkage thrown in at Stephen Van Dahm's blog.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

TV Land's 100 Greatest Catchphrases in TV - the only list ever that will include John F. Kennedy, Dave Chappelle as Rick James, and Tattoo from Fantasy Island

Nerds track the extent and cause of injuries suffered by Darth Vader throughout the Star Wars saga

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about."

— president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America, the Rev. Joel Hunter, declining the job because he wished to focus on poverty and the environment. Hunter believes the organization is refusing to move beyond the opposition to abortion and gay rights in a broadening of their agenda.

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 29, 2006 12:41 AM | Comments (0)

 

11/28 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Britt Robson analyzes last night's Timberwolves game at Balls!

Bob Seger, Fear Factory, and Kottonmouth Kings are just a few of the acts playing around town tonight. Check out Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go for a complete itinerary.

THESE DAYS

A clear majority of Brits and Scots are in favor of Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom, according to a new poll.

The New York Daily News reports President George W. Bush hopes to raise $500 million for his presidential library. This guy does nothing on the cheap.

Art Institute of Portland student Bob Averill was booted from the school for offending another student while discussing her belief in leprechauns.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

St. Paul resident Nina Friction blogs on failed Greek omelettes, yoga balls, her trip to Europe, poop stories, and party pix at Nina's Blue Light Cabaret.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Probably a lousy movie, but Crispin Glover as Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka is worth the price of admission: Epic Movie

A Twin Peaks fan heads to Washington state to recapture some of the filming locations of the David Lynch series from the early '90s.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I though it was like an animated Inconvenient Truth. I half-expected to see an animated version of Al Gore pop up."

— Fox News's Your World host Neil Cavuto, on the green themes in the dancing penguin movie Happy Feet

"...If you're going to include those themes, the least you could do is tell me, a parent. Tell me about it first, OK, so I know I'm walking into propaganda... They may not pull in $42 million if people thought they'd be watching an animated version of An Inconvenient Truth."

— CNN Headline News's Glenn Beck, who apparently also got the Happy Feet memo [via Media Matters]

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 28, 2006 6:47 AM | Comments (0)

 

11/27 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Diablo Cody has a movie update and schmutz in her eye at Pussy Ranch.

We remember David W. Hermance, the mastermind behind the Toyota Prius, at Corpus Obscura.

Guest blogger Stephen Litel discusses Saturday's Clippers/Timberwolves game at Balls!

THESE DAYS

The upscale menswear and accessory store Jack Spade in Manhattan's trendy SoHo district has stopped selling $40 frog dissection kits (complete with a vacuum-sealed formaldehyde-treated frogs) due to customer outrage.

The number of "spam" messages has tripled since June and now accounts for as many as nine out of 10 e-mails sent worldwide, according to U.S. email security company Postini.

A Florida woman who claimed she was abducted was arrested on charges of filing a false police report after it was learned she was really meeting a man at Busch Gardens.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Winona Daily News reporter Brian Voerding blogs about the Myers-Briggs test, poetry, dead lap-tops, totaled cars, and the scourge of small town boosters at Erehwon.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The Ten Worst Internet Acquisitions Ever

Via Robot Chicken: The Real World Metropolis

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"The date of the Boston Tea Party does not matter. I know how to learn anything I want to learn. I absolutely know that I could learn how to fly the space shuttle because someone else knows how to fly it, and they put it in a book. Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front of the class."

— actor Will Smith, on why he and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, homeschool their children

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 27, 2006 6:44 AM | Comments (1)

 

11/24 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

What does "OK" stand for? When a woman gives birth in westerns, why do they always boil water? You've got the questions, and Cecil Adams is the man with the answers, as we welcome The Straight Dope to City Pages every Friday.

Panic! at the Disco, Idle Hands and Mallman are just a few of the acts playing around town tonight. Check out Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go for a complete itinerary.

David Brauer delivers a Three Pointer for the fouled-out Britt Robson at Balls!

The Friday Random Ten is posted at American Idle. Hit the party shuffle on your iTunes and tell us what's next.

THESE DAYS

British model and tabloid fodder Katie 'Jordan' Price is having her G-cup breast implants removed and plans to sell them on eBay for charity.

Each year, millions of Britons board ferries to France in order to take advantage of cheaper excise duties charged on tobacco and alcohol, but a Luxembourg-based court will soon determine whether a customer can avoid paying the duties in their home country.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Bob Ryan blogs about corporate and personal ethics in relation to our environment, politics, and consumer culture at SWiM Starting with Me.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

What happens when you put a Furby in the microwave

Generate your very own Official Seal [via Incoming Signals]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Take it up with God."

— New Orleans resident Joshua Thompson, to a TV reporter, after Thompson and his wife sold their Memphis home for a profit, immediatley after it was donated to them by the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 24, 2006 6:41 AM | Comments (0)

 

Happy Thanksgiving from The Blotter

Filed under: Morning Communique

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 23, 2006 8:27 AM | Comments (0)

 

Exit interview: Mark Dayton

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

Suffice to say that things in Washington didn't quite turn out the way Mark Dayton planned. When he took office in early 2001, he became known as "Senator 100," the lowest ranking member of the congressional body.

Not long after, he had to deal on a personal and political level with the 9/11 attacks--and various office evacuations afterward--along with the death of his friend and mentor Paul Wellstone, Minnesota's senior Senator. It seemed as though Dayton never truly found his footing after that.

"The two worst events of my senate career, and the two very worst of my lifetime, were the 9/11 attacks here in Washington, and then Paul and Sheila's death," the Senator says. "Paul was a personal friend of 22 years and a mentor the first two years. I went around the state during his re-election campaign that year, saying that I hoped to be the junior Senator from Minnesota for many years. I miss him every day here."

From there, as Dayton points out, things got worse. He was suddenly a minor player in a minor party in Washington, and struggled to get things--anything, really--done. He had to vote on two war resolutions, something he notes that he was never asked about in the 31 debates on his way to the Senate--though he proudly points out that he voted against the Iraq War.

But Dayton, by his own admission, knows that he'll best be remembered for being the only congressional member to close his office in late 2004, for reasons that to this day remain unclear. From there, he became a subject of ridicule--a main reason why in early 2005 he chose not to seek re-election.

Not that he has any love lost for the gig anyway. After a long career in public service, including a post as Minnesota's Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Economic Development in the early 1980s and a stint as state auditor in the 1990s, the 59-year-old scion of one of Minnesota's most famous families is set to come home and regroup. In an interview with City Pages, Dayton was at once candid and sadly resigned, speaking in a familiar halting speech pattern that at times revealed a surprising level of self-deprecating humor, touched with a bitterness.

"I'm coming back to Minnesota with my two German Shepherds," he told me when I recently caught up with him by phone from his Senate office. "Harry Truman said if you don't have a friend in Washington, get a dog, and if you're really hard up get two. And I have two." Then he concluded, "I'm not staying in Washington one day after January 3rd."

City Pages: I know that after 9/11 you spent a lot of time researching and traveling to the Middle East and Central Asia. I want to ask you: Have you seen the Borat movie?

Mark Dayton: No, I haven't. Both of my sons have seen it and recommend it highly, so it's on my roster of "to dos."

CP: What were some of the places you visited?

MD: Two weeks ago I went to Iraq for the third time, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan ...

CP: Never been to Kazakhstan though?

MD: No, I never made it there. But maybe after watching the movie I'll be inspired to do so. But I wonder if you've seen one "stan," you've seen them all. [laughs.]

CP: In the last two years, your office has been constantly sending out press releases for money you've secured for this and money you've secured for that. It strikes me that maybe you've done a lot of work that's been overshadowed by other things, and unnoticed. Are you frustrated by that?

MD: I think that's the nature of political dynamics. There's a book I just read, "State of Denial," where Dick Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, one of his friends in public office had screwed up and was bemoaning the fact, and Dick said, "For every 100 'atta boys' there's going to be one 'oh, shit.'" People tend to remember the "oh, shit," the mistake, and tend to overlook all the other things. That comes with the territory.

I'll be remembered for closing my office, the only member of congress to do so and, you know, in hindsight, if I had known there wasn't going to be an attack I wouldn't have closed my office. But I didn't have that kind crystal ball at the time, and unfortunately people didn't have access to the classified information, which I did have. I know why I made the decision at the time, and I believe knowing what I knew, I feel it was the proper decision to make, but I recognize no one else is ever going to view it that way.

CP: Right, well, you telegraphed my next question. Can you talk about the nature of the classified information that you had? Or at least why it seemed you had it and nobody else did?

MD: Members of congress had access to it. In fact, Majority Leader Bill Frist brought it to our attention. He interrupted another classified meeting with the secretary of defense to urge those of us present to read the report, which by law I can't discuss it ... but you could summarize it by saying that the information before the 9/11 attack paled in comparison to the information they had at that time regarding what the intelligence community said was the likelihood of another 9/11 type of attack somewhere in the United States.

So what I wasn't able to explain to people was that the Senate had adjourned until after the November election. We'd left town, and we were leaving our staff members behind and exposed to that danger, unaware of their being in that position.

CP: But why do you think you were the only one who reacted the way you did with the office closing?

MD: I think others were willing to play Russian roulette with the lives of their staff, and I wasn't willing to do so. How they could make that decision, you'd have to ask them. But I couldn't live with myself if knowing--again, this is the consensus view of the national intelligence community. Now, as we've learned their views are often a mistake, and this is one of those times--they weren't saying there was an absolute, guaranteed certainty of attack, but they were saying there was a likelihood of an attack. And they were again wrong. But I didn't have any other information to base my view other than the consensus of the national intelligence sector of the United States government.

CP: The ways you were portrayed to varying degrees were that you were crazy or that you were a ninny or whatever. It didn't paint you favorably. Did that have an impact on your decision not to run again?

MD: Well, it affected my standing in the polls significantly. I dropped about 15 points in approval rating from the previous period--I wasn't doing my own polls, it was, I think, the Minnesota Poll. I dropped from 56 percent approval in January 2004 to 41 percent approval in January 2005. I attribute most if not all of that to the publicity surrounding that decision. I wish I could explain to people that I and my colleagues were all gone from Washington. Our offices were effectively closed and the Senate was closed. I was just removing my staff from the line of fire. My own failure to communicate clearly what the circumstances were brought that bad publicity on my own head. I blame myself for that.

CP: Did that signal an end for you--that you shouldn't run again?

MD: It was one of the factors, because I knew that whoever was going to be the DFL Senate candidate was going to be at the top of the ticket, and the whole ticket was going to depend on how well that person performed. I still thought I would win a very tough election, but I knew that would be used heavily against me. And in hindsight now, after seeing what a good Democratic year it's been, I'm even more certain that I would have won an election--one that certainly would have been much closer than how Amy Klobuchar annihilated Mark Kennedy. But no doubt in my mind I would have won. I also would have had to raise $15 to $20 million to counteract the onslaught that would have been dumped on me.

But if you gave me a piece of paper today that said "Sign on the bottom line, you can have another six-year term," I wouldn't sign it. I had other reasons--seeing the country going in the opposite direction from what I thought was best for the country and best for Minnesota, and the frustration of not being able to effectively counteract that being in the minority caucus. And being part of the very reactive body that the legislative branch [is], and being the lowest seniority and being in the minority combined to make me feel very ineffective. I'm a cause-driven person, and I wasn't happy just being there for the glory of it.

CP: But now it would be a different situation.

MD: It would be slightly more tempting to me, certainly, to be in the majority. And I'm thrilled for my colleagues here and for Amy Klobuchar. In the better interest of our state and our country, it will be a Democratic majority, but I still wouldn't sign that bottom line.

CP: Interesting. So you think you could have beaten Mark Kennedy.

MD: I believed when I made my decision in the early spring of 2005, I would win the election--it would be close and mean and nasty. The Karl Rove approach is to try to destroy the incumbent personally to try to defeat him politically, and I think they would have done that. They would have stopped at nothing and stooped to anything and they would have used lies and misinformation and whatever embellished part of the truth would serve their purpose shamelessly. I've seen them do it to others, and I have no doubt they would have tried that to me.

CP: I can hear in your voice that you don't have the will to go through something like that.

MD: Well, I'm willing to walk through fire for something that I want to do and believe is worthwhile doing. I couldn't say that about another six-year term in the Senate.

CP: The rumor was that some DFL leaders and money people asked you to not run because they didn't want the party to suffer across the board in raising cash.

MD: Nobody ever asked me not to run again.

CP: What were some of the other factors, then? It sounds like you simply didn't want this job anymore.

MD: That was the three factors. I started from a difficult position in the public's mind, that I would have had to raise $15 to $20 million and I hate fundraising, and, thirdly, that I really could not sustain my enthusiasm for the next six years that I had been able to sustain for this six years. I've given this job my very best, and I've felt honored throughout to have it and I'm proud to be here. I feel very good in my mind for having been the best Senator I could possibly be for the last six years. The results are not what I wished for.

CP: What are the things most disappointing to you?

MD: As my son would say, being in the minority really sucks. [laughs.] I've gone from being at 50-50 parity when I arrived to, when Jim Jeffords switched in 2001 until the end of 2002, we were in the majority, and now the last four years we've been in the minority and I've been very low in seniority. I've gone from number 100 to number 79 today. So the combination of minority and low seniority is extremely difficult ...

CP: What were some of the things you wanted to get done?

MD: Well, I voted against the Iraq War. I was one of 23 to vote against it at a time when public opinion in Minnesota was running 85 percent in favor in support of the president taking us to war. That was a time I stood relatively alone based on the courage of my own convictions. And that time I was definitely vindicated by the outcome, as much as I hate to say that. I tried seven times to get the Senate to pass full funding for special education, which was promised--40 percent of the cost was promised 30 years ago and it's less than half of that today. I couldn't get the majority votes.

I did get the majority of votes in the Senate for what was called the "Taste of your Own Medicine" legislation which said that members of congress couldn't have better prescription drug coverage than we provided to seniors under Medicare. And it passed the Senate 93 to 3; all the Republicans voted for my amendment, which surprised me. Then I learn the next day in the paper that the Majority Leader Bill Frist told them "Vote for it, we're gonna drop it in conference committee with the House." They were able to vote with the knowledge it would not be enacted, which anywhere else in the country would be called hypocrisy, in Washington it's called politics as usual.

CP: Is there anything that you did accomplish?

MD: In the last defense appropriations bill, I got $3 million for the Minnesota National Guard for a pilot program called "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon," which will provide counseling and support services for the 2,600 Minnesota men and women who will be returning from Iraq next spring and to their families, for the re-integration into their communities.

I also spearheaded getting an additional $44 million for border patrol agents for patrolling the northern border of the United States. I was able to get the next generation of F-16 fighter planes for the Duluth National Guard to help them ...

CP: But this is all military-oriented stuff. Every politician has to talk now about military and public safety. Is there anything outside of that that you've done that you're proud of?

MD: I helped to arrange for a Rochester couple to adopt a Chinese orphan. It was the first time the Chinese government waived the requirement that the child, who had three open-heart surgeries at the Mayo Clinic, return to China to complete the process. I also helped a Long Lake couple and 120 other couples around the country complete their adoption of Cambodian orphans after the State Department had put a stop to those adoptions.

I set up a health care helpline through my Minnesota office, which has helped 2,000 Minnesotans get either the healthcare that their doctors prescribed that their HMOs were denying them or helped in getting them reimbursements. I've donated my Senate salary every year to the Minnesota Senior Federation to keep taking buses up to Canada to get lower-cost prescription drugs.

CP: That's right, I think most people have forgotten that you're doing this free of charge.

MD: I've worked for a dollar a year; that's the one way I can assure people they are getting their money's worth.

CP: What has, for you, has been the most surprising thing--good or bad--about Washington?

MD: I said 10 years before I came here that I thought Washington was a cesspool, and nothing here has changed my opinion of it.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at November 22, 2006 8:26 AM | Comments (4)

 

11/22 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Check out Peter Scholtes's cover story on local Latin hip hop, Reggaetón Animal, then check out Maria Isa, Lirica Secreta, the Corporation, Danny y Elliot, and many more local artists and dancers in the Twin Cities Reggaetón Gallery.

Jim Walsh has already posted today's Song du Jour at the Walsh Files.

Peter Scholtes has an expanded interview with the Clash's Mick Jones at Complicated Fun.

THESE DAYS

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is proposing that alcohol-detection technology be used by drivers to disable their automobiles if they are found to be over the legal blood alcohol limit.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings finished second behind actor Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap, Laverne & Shirley) in the most recent broadcast of Celebrity Jeopardy.

The mayor of a small Brazilian town has begun handing out free Viagra, spicing up the sex lives of dozens of elderly men and their partners.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Mark, mr. blair, jp, david b., dave w., anders, jc, and saleem review songs and dole out band info, concert updates, and free MP3s at Music for Robots.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

And now, a lovely number from the Complaints Choir of Helsinki

Steve Carell picks up where prophet Jim Carrey left off in Evan Almighty

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have. I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entreé to the world and to the human condition."

— Legendary director Robert Altman, 1925-2006

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 22, 2006 6:38 AM | Comments (0)

 

The real Chris Stewart: a CP interview with the embattled school board member-elect

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

It all happened too late for this week's print edition, but I've posted a web interview with Chris Stewart, the man at the center of the flap about the satiric Tammy Lee website that painted the IP candidate as a racist.

Here's an excerpt, with a link to the full interview afterward:

CP: What was it that bugged you and your friends at AHS enough about the Tammy Lee candidacy that it was worth going to the trouble of building this spoof page?

Stewart: Let me give the John Kerry answer: I was for Tammy Lee before I was against Tammy Lee. I liked Tammy Lee. I was a former Independence Party candidate, I was very supportive of Peter Hutchinson every time I saw him--he was the first person I talked to when I decided to run for Minneapolis school board. And then I had a sit-down with people from the Independence Party. And every time I'd see Tammy Lee, I'd thank her, because she was running a really clean campaign and it was something I was glad to see. I was a Keith Ellison supporter, but I really appreciated what she was doing.

When the quote came out with her saying to Sarah Janecek [of the Politics in Minnesota newsletter] that liberals in the district were just a little bit too eager to elect a Minnesota black to Congress, I thought about that. I thought about the fact that what I know about Keith Ellison--people talk about the troubles in his life and reduce him to that. But when I thought about it, I saw a guy with an advanced education who's a dad, who's married, who's given a lot back to the community. In terms of what we're taught growing up as African-Americans, that's kind of the Valhalla. If you do that, you're successful.

So he's passed all the signposts you're supposed to have to pass to be successful, but it comes down to people claiming he was chosen because he was black. And that's very insulting. And it was doubly insulting coming from someone I'd placed so much faith in. I'd written good things about Tammy Lee, and I had faith in her.

When that quote came out, it deflated me. It's perplexing in part because it's saying that all the liberals in CD5 are racist--that they have no minds beyond seeing a black candidate and thinking, let's send him! Keith Ellison was more than that. So that bothered me, and it bothered people around me.

My spoof was, to me, not a spoof of Tammy Lee--it was a spoof of the idea that we shouldn't vote for this guy because he was chosen for his race. That was the subtext of the spoof in my mind: Vote for me, because I'm not the guy who got chosen because he was black.

The rest of the interview is here.

Posted by Steve Perry at November 21, 2006 3:58 PM | Comments (6)

 

Blow up your TV

Filed under: Media

One minute and 43 seconds.

That's the average amount of time that Midwest television newscasts devoted to political coverage on a nightly basis during the final month of the election campaign. By contrast these broadcasts featured, on average, four and a half minutes of paid political ads.

Those are the findings of a study released today by the Midwest News Index. The project examined evening and late-night newscasts in seven markets: Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was led by UW-Madison political science professor Ken Goldstein.

In addition the survey found that the bulk of political stories, some 65 percent, were focused on campaign strategy and polling, rather than issues. These stories lasted an average of 76 seconds--or 13 seconds less than during the midterm elections of 2002.

The stations aired 8,995 political advertisements during newscasts over the last month of the campaign, while running 2,392 election stories. What's more, over 10 percent of those stories actually dealt with campaign ads.

So what topics dominated newscasts during the stretch run of the election season? Sports and weather, of course. Those topics accounted for roughly seven minutes of non-commercial time in a typical 30-minute broadcast.

Larry Hansen, president of the Joyce Foundation, which paid for the study, summarized the findings in a statement: "When you reflect on the recent campaign season, with its relentless assault of outlandish, negative political ads, you can't help but fear what future elections may bring."

Posted by Paul Demko at November 21, 2006 2:22 PM | Comments (0)

 

Time Waster

Filed under: Economy

Pre-Black Friday Bah-Humbuggery

How long will you be paying for Junior's iPod? The fine folks at Lutheran Social Services' Financial Counseling Service are experts in the art of monetary tough love, and they think you should know: Paying 8 percent in interest and making a minimum payment of $10 a month, it will take you 28 months to pay off that $250 Christmas splurge. If you're joining Friday's retail madness, you might want to first plug your list into LSS's "Scrooge-O-Meter."

Posted by Beth Hawkins at November 21, 2006 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

 

Political Spending from the Pulpit

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

Pastor who backed Michelle Bachmann in church also gave to Detroit candidate

The pulpit wasn't the only place where Mac Hammond, head of the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, flexed his political muscle. Hammond, who made headlines in the days before the election for endorsing U.S. Representative-elect Michelle Bachmann during a sermon, also dug deep, together with his wife Lynne Hammond spending $10,400 to support two religious candidates, according to records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

In the 2005-2006 election cycle Bachmann received $2,500 from the Hammonds--well, that and a venue in which to proclaim herself a "fool for Christ" whose congressional bid was mandated by God. Doubtless Bachmann's politics jibe with the Hammonds', but the two have no history of making donations to U.S. political races. More plausible: They were inspired to enter the civic arena this time around by the candidacy of a fellow Word-Faith preacher.

The couple was more generous to Keith Butler, who ran an unsuccessful Senate race in Michigan. A black Republican from a Detroit suburb, Butler is a former Detroit City Council member and senior pastor of Word Faith International Christian Center, a 22,000-member megachurch. He raised $2.6 million--$7,900 of it from the Hammonds--for his failed effort to win the GOP primary and go on to challenge popular Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

Posted by Beth Hawkins at November 21, 2006 10:57 AM | Comments (1)

 

11/21 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Wookiefoot offshoot Mad Love is at the Fine Line tonight. Get the whole scoop in Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go.

THESE DAYS

About 1 percent of Web sites indexed by Google and Microsoft are sexually explicit, according to a U.S. government-commissioned study.

A botched kidnapping in Wichita ended with one of the assailants shooting himself in the left testicle.

President Richard M. Nixon is slated to appear on a $1 U.S. coin in the year 2016, 20 years before an asteroid destroys us all. Coincidence?

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

St. Paul resident Ethel blogs on vomiting dogs, gay rights, and roller derby at Chicken Lady Loves Life.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Comedian David Cross covers Ethan Chandler's reimagining of "One" for Bank of America

Time magazine publishes 5 Myths About the Midterm Elections

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I figure if this was truly a dance competition they would have voted for the better dancer. I would like to think the criteria was based solely on being the best dancer, and I thought we did enough to accomplish that. I'm not crying over spilled milk. If I was going to lose to someone, it couldn't have been to a better guy than Emmitt Smith."

— Television footnote Mario Lopez, not at all bitter about losing to a Hall of Fame running back on Dancing with the Stars

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 21, 2006 6:33 AM | Comments (0)

 

Crime blotter: making hay

Filed under: Crime

On November 14, at approximately 3 p.m., Glenn Wayne Oltman entered an Unbank location in downtown Minneapolis. According to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court, Oltman attempted to cash a $7800 check drawn from an account at Delaware Federal Credit Union. He told the Unbank employee handling the transaction that he'd received the money for selling hay. The check, however, turned out to be counterfeit. When the police arrived Oltman allegedly confessed that he'd received the check via email and that he was to receive 10 percent of the proceeds in return for cashing it. The 42-year-old Wadena resident has been charged with one count of offering a forged check.

Posted by Paul Demko at November 20, 2006 4:51 PM | Comments (0)

 

Snatching ridicule from the jaws of defeat

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Rae Hart Anderson, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Minnesota state senate, got her 15-minutes of fame in the blogosphere this weekend. The reason? A rambling and poorly punctuated concession email in which she urged incumbent State Senator Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-Fridley), who is a Hindu, to convert to Christianity. "Pay attention...this is very important, Satveer," Anderson wrote. "Have you noticed Jesus for yourself...at some moment in time, yet??"

Talk about your tee-ball. After WCCO published the email, pundits of all stripes-and from all area codes--jumped on the story. "Jesus freak 'concedes' to Hindu winner," blared the headline at the political blog, Wonkette, which went on to characterize Anderson as "loopy" and declared her email "insane." Over at Time magazine's Daily Dish, conservative Andrew Sullivan struck a somewhat incredulous tone, writing: "And some Republicans are wondering why they lost. The denial continues." (In the insult to injury department, Sullivan managed to misidentify Anderson's gender--no doubt, a bitter affront to the traditional values fetishist in her).

By Sunday, Anderson was even getting slapped around in pages of her hometown paper. ("Another Christian culture warrior forgets how to make Minnesota Nice)." In addition to recounting the particulars of the email, Strib columnist Nick Coleman made passing reference to one of Chaudhary's previous scrapes with Small Tent Republicans--an incident in which State Senator Bill Belanger (R-Bloomington) asked that Chaudhary be removed from the senate chambers for the offense of wearing a Nehru coat instead of the traditional jacket and tie. The gambit did not pay off, but--in a not-so-proud moment for both the party and the institution--it was debated on the floor.

For his part, Chaudhary says Anderson's sermon-by-email was just one of several strange behaviors his opponent exhibited over the course of the campaign. "At one of the debates, she held up a picture of Elvis wearing a lab coat with one of those Dr. Seuss cat-in-the-hat hats. She made some reference to Halloween but we were all very confused by it," Chaudhary recalls. "I still don't know what the connection was to the campaign."

Chaudhary says he didn't respond to Anderson's email. "Perhaps I should have said Lord Krishna died for you," he offers. "But why bother getting into it after such a walloping victory?"

Anderson, who received 36 percent of the vote, did not return City Pages calls for comment.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at November 20, 2006 3:59 PM | Comments (0)

 

11/20 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

The perfect gift for the despised Vikings fan on your Christmas list at American Idle.

THESE DAYS

Pentagon guidelines that classified homosexuality as a mental disorder now put it among a list of conditions or "circumstances" that range from bed-wetting to fear of flying.

A court in Duesseldorf, Germany rejected a man's compensation claim against British Airways after a cabin crew ordered him off a plane because other passengers were offended by his smell.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Political commentary, along with musings on The Clash, the local stadium efforts, and immigration issues can be found at The Usual Suspects.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

From McSweeney's: Other tobacco mascots that met with disapproval from the AMA

Seinfeld's Kramer goes k-k-krazy! Watch Michael Richards's racist screed during last weekend's gig at the Laugh Factory

A 1978 Marketplace clip featuring Jack Nicholson promoting a hydrogen-powered Chevy

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I don't care what any man says, it's every man's dream to please every woman—and get paid for it."

— Former boxing champ Mike Tyson, agreeing to become a male escort at Heidi Fleiss' Stud Farm, a new legal brothel for women in Nevada

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 20, 2006 6:27 AM | Comments (0)

 

Attack of the killer potato pancakes

Filed under: Business

On April 4, 2001, Vernon Hiltner was dining at a Perkins Restaurant & Bakery in Coon Rapids and ordered the potato pancakes. According to a civil complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court this week, the meal did not go down well. From the lawsuit:

That as Plaintiff was eating his potato pancakes he suffered an injury in and about his mouth and throat and suddenly blood began to stream down from Plaintiff's mouth and face onto his plate collecting in a puddle of blood, all caused by a foreign object contained in the potato pancakes, and said cut was not caused by any other instrument or thing; that for a prolonged time thereafter, Plaintiff continued to bleed from the mouth and throat, and had an incident of rectal bleeding several months thereafter.

Hiltner's attorney, Mitchell Hadler, claims that the case has already been settled. He declines, however, to provide any details of the settlement. Vivian Brooks, a spokeswoman for the restaurant chain, declines to comment on the lawsuit.

Posted by Paul Demko at November 17, 2006 10:52 AM | Comments (2)

 

CNN to Keith Ellison: "Prove to me that you are not working with our enemies"

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

Conservative Philadelphia-based radio host Glenn Beck held a brief interview with Congressman-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) on November 14 during a broadcast of CNN Headline News. Beck stated he wasn't accusing Ellison of being "an enemy," but felt many Americans would consider Ellison an enemy of the United States. A snippet of the interview is below...

In response, Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, named Glenn Beck winner of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" for his conduct during the interview. The full transcript of the Beck-Ellison exchange is after the jump...

BECK: History was made last Tuesday when Democrat Keith Ellison got elected to Congress, representing the great state of Minnesota. Well, not really unusual that Minnesota would elect a Democrat. What is noteworthy is that Keith is the first Muslim in history to be elected to the House of Representatives. He joins us now.

Congratulations, sir.

KEITH ELLISON (D), CONGRESS-MAN ELECT OF MINNESOTA: How you doing, Glenn? Glad to be here.

BECK: Thank you. I will tell you, may I -- may we have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect and I play the cards face up on the table?

ELLISON: Go there.

BECK: OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I've been to mosques. I really don't believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I -- you know, I think it's being hijacked, quite frankly.

With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let's cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."

And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.

ELLISON: Let me tell you, the people in the Fifth Congressional District know that I have a deep love and affection for my country. There's no one who's more patriotic than I am, and so you know, I don't need to -- need to prove my patriotic stripes.

BECK: And I'm not asking you to. I'm wondering if you see that. You come from a district that is heavily immigrant with Somalians, and I think it's wonderful, honestly. I think it is really a good sign that you are -- you could be an icon to show Europe, this is the way you integrate into a country. I think the Somalians coming out and voting is a very good thing. With that...

ELLISON: I'd agree with you.

BECK: Yes. With that being said, you see -- I saw a recent poll that showed 25 percent of Muslims in America will not report a terrorist plot if they see it.

ELLISON: Well, I don't believe that poll. I think that Muslims in America are very loyal, patriotic people. We have over 7,000 Muslims who are in the United States armed forces fighting to defend this great country of ours. So, I just don't see it that way, and I think that I've seen a number of polls that just -- were just flat out wrong about this one.

BECK: OK. Your view of Muslim extremists.

ELLISON: They're criminals. But I think that people who commit criminal acts should be treated like criminals, regardless of their faith.

BECK: And do you believe -- I agree with you. Do you believe that they are destroying Islam as well as trying to destroy us?

ELLISON: Well, I think that -- I think that there are people -- and let me just say this. You know, Timothy McVeigh, who's not a Muslim, was a pretty dangerous guy to America, too. I do think that we have to be clear that, you know, Islam and Muslims in America are good, loyal Americans here to make this country a stronger, better place.

But you know, having said that, I think it is important to note that, you know, if you were to gather Muslims up and ask them how they feel about this country, they'll talk about it being the land of opportunity, the place where they can worship their faith as they choose, a place where they can earn a decent living.

BECK: Yes. I agree with you. We don't have any argument there. I spoke to somebody on the radio just today that echoed those things.

Now, you want to bring the troops home right now. Tell me how that doesn't play right into the hands of Ahmadinejad and the Iranians filling that power vacuum that we will leave if we do that.

ELLISON: Well, I mean, I think that recognizing that a military solution in Iraq is probably not going to make America safer is not the same as cutting and running.

I believe that the United States, together with the world community, needs to help reconstruct Iraq and needs to be a part of bringing the fighting factions there to a point where they have peace. But I don't think that using the military option is the only way to go.

BECK: I can tell that...

ELLISON: Glenn, think about it this way. Look at the National Intelligence Estimate. It was pretty clear that, you know, our presence in Iraq is not contributing to a safer Iraq and, therefore, not diminishing the threat of terrorism.

BECK: But I have to tell you, I mean, to think that we could somehow or another work with the international community and get the Sunnis and the Shias together so they could live in peace is also just as ridiculous on many fronts.

ELLISON: But, Glenn...

BECK: People have been warring against each other forever and on top of it the international community? Come on.

ELLISON: But Glenn, you're a historian, a very educated and intelligent man, and you know that the Shia and the Sunni in Iraq have really never had a civil war before. You're aware of that, aren't you?

BECK: You know what? I have to tell you, if you think that Iraq is put together because everybody is happy as little field mice, you're kidding yourself.

ELLISON: No.

BECK: That is three separate countries cobbled together through a strong man.

ELLISON: I'll agree that it is a pluralistic, multiethnic society that has had its difficulties over time, but the Shia and Sunni have never had a civil war, and that's a historic fact.

BECK: Congressman, thank you very much.

ELLISON: Thank you.

BECK: Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 17, 2006 10:10 AM | Comments (18)

 

11/17 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Where are all the baby pigeons? In "The Flintstones," what was Barney Rubble's job? You've got the questions, and Cecil Adams is the man with the answers, as we welcome The Straight Dope to City Pages every Friday.

Read about the upcoming Global Orgasm at Culture To Go.

The managing editor to whom President Nixon declared "I am not a crook" is remembered at Corpus Obscura.

Chooglin', Faux Jean, Chris Koza, and the Honeydogs are just a few of the acts playing around town tonight. Check out Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go for a complete rundown.

What's next in the party shuffle on your iTunes? Add your Friday Random Ten at American Idle.

THESE DAYS

Prominent scientists, among them a Nobel laureate, say a layer of pollution deliberately spewed into the atmosphere could act as a "shade" from the sun's rays and help cool the planet.

According to the Cook Political Report, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) is considered one of the three most vulnerable incumbents in the 2008 elections.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Ryan Opaz takes photos filled with brilliant colors and striking contrasts, featuring scenes from the Twin Cities, foreign locales, food, cats, and much more at Obiscoito.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Lil' Nuke lends his hip hop cred to Libertarian candidate for Louisiana governor T. Lee Horne III's music video

If you have no shame or dignity, and your ability to run an offense is highly suspect, you can emulate Vikings coach Brad Childress, thanks to Childress Mustache [via Jason's Talking About...]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"We have a tremendous opportunity here. We need to pass as stringent a law as we can, I would like to make it illegal. What if every city did this, image how many lives would be saved? If we can do one little thing here at this level it will matter."

— Belmont City (CA) Councilman Dave Warden, regarding the recent unanimous council vote to pursue a strict law that will prohibit smoking anywhere in the city except for single-family detached residences

"It's not a 'Brokeback Mountain' situation."

— Majority Leader-elect Harry Reid (D-NV), on the cordial (but platonic) relationship he shares with Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 17, 2006 6:46 AM | Comments (0)

 

Strib's new Vita.mn weekly: The wait is almost over! But not quite!

Filed under: Media

The Strib's new weekly entertainment paper, Vita.mn--"a free, entertainment-oriented publication targeting readers ages 25 to 34," according to the (absolutely impartial in a boosterish sort of way) business story the newspaper of record published this morning--was supposed to hit the streets today. But when a mob of City Pagers descended on the outdoor rack right beside the entrance to 425 Portland Avenue around noon, Vita.mn had not yet appeared in its corporeal form. The featured act at web-Vita.mn's front page on Wednesday and Thursday was Average White Band--so does this mean the paper will be a free, entertainment-oriented publication targeting readers ages 25 to 34 who are curious about the music their parents listened to as teenagers?

Since we haven't been to able to find one yet, we ask our readers: Have you seen the thing? What's on the cover? Impressions?

Posted by Steve Perry at November 16, 2006 3:02 PM | Comments (4)

 

11/16 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Kill the Vultures, Skid Row, and Amos Lee are just a few of the acts onstage tonight. Check out Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go for a complete itinerary.

THESE DAYS

Television legend Andy Griffith is suing a Wisconsin man who unsuccessfully ran for Grant County sheriff after legally changing his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith.

Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip received $2 million from a U.S. source in exchange for the release of Fox News employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

After almost three years of grumbling about local and national politics (as well as Norwegian-Swedish international relations), is Mark Gisleson really calling it quits? Keep watching Norwegianity to see what happens.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Congresswoman-elect Michele Bachmann becomes the subject of a Fark photoshop contest

Paul Giamatti plays Santa Claus and Vince Vaughn is his less-than-successful younger brother in Fred Claus, coming December 2007.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it."

— Universal Music chairman/CEO Doug Morris, describing iPod owners as thieves

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 16, 2006 6:44 AM | Comments (1)

 

Post Election Impressions: Rybak Helped Himself

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

It wasn't surprising to hear that Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak isn't closing the door on a potential bid for the U.S. Senate against Norm Coleman in 2008. Hizzoner has been everywhere during this election cycle, plying his fabled energy with enough charm and calculation that his chances at higher office appear slightly less doomed than they did a few months ago.

How? By doing loyal scut work for both Mike Hatch and Keith Ellison, a pair of unconventional pols who represent two very disparate wings of the DFL. Hatch punted the metro area in favor of a