March 2, 2008 - March 8, 2008

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Novak sticks a fork in Pawlenty's VP chances

Filed under: VP Pawlenty Watch

Republican commentator and exposer of undercover CIA agents Robert Novak is saying that Governor Pawlenty may have frittered away any chance he had of a VP nod:

Pawlenty's position as chairman of the National Governors Association may prove his undoing. While party insiders sing his praises as ideal to be McCain's running mate, leading conservative Republican governors have been less than pleased with him. Pawlenty has collaborated with the NGA vice chairman, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, in a fat economic stimulus package, as well as the energy proposal.

Hours after Pawlenty's energy plan was derailed, McCain himself was urged in private by GOP governors not to appear to be anti-coal or anti-oil. The upshot of a busy recent Saturday at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in downtown Washington was that Pawlenty came over as somebody considerably different from what McCain needs to calm conservatives. He left the nation's capital as a less attractive vice presidential possibility than he was when he arrived.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at March 7, 2008 12:02 PM | Comments (2)

 

Breakfast of Champions: 3/7

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

It's Friday, which is usually the time for frivolity. But I'm feeling all cerebral and shit. How to permute these feelings? You'll see down at the bottom. First, the links.

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

Beth Walton's expanded take on a print blotter item features an actual student safety video from the U of M.

Some kid decides to stop cursing. Dick Cheney shows up in the comments to give him what for. I ask: WTF?

Author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For Alison Bechdel answers Ben Palosaari's questions. I often describe DTWOF as "For Better or For Worse, but with lesbians." I leave it up to you whether this is a compliment.

Ward Rubrecht runs down the extensive slate of storytelling events this weekend.

Benjamin Polk is back on the basketball beat, this time talking about the local professional franchise.

BRAIN CANDY

Tool around the Internet enough, and chances are you run into LOLCats on your own. If not, there goes your productivity for the day. The notion of amusing cat pictures augmented with poor grammar is one of those ideas that is much more hilarious in practice than in the abstract. Yes, even if you don't like cats.

But what if you don't like philosophers? Well, go back to I Can Has Cheezburger and don't click on any of the links below -- because enterprising thinkers around the Web have made DIY LOLPhilosophers (or PhiLOLsophers, if you prefer). They're full of laughs for philosophy geeks.

Some are simple but elegant, like this one of Nietzsche or this one of Michel Foucault (from his debate/discussion with Noam Chomsky). Many don't require an intimate knowledge of the esoterica to give you a chuckle.

Two of the funniest involve Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (Wikipedia), whose work has invoked masturbatory theses from sunken-eyed graduate students, but who aren't as famous as, say Plato. You might have to be familiar with the work (or at least know that they penned a book called "Anti-Oedipus") to get these.

The answers to this question include "contradict himself (on purpose?)" and "marry someone too young and hot for him." That's the Slovene philosopher Slavoj Zizek, which is the best philosopher name in the non-French category.

A good collection of these is here. One question, though: where is the Warrior in all this?

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 7, 2008 7:48 AM | Comments (0)

 

It's a dangerous world out there, watch yourself, watch your shoe

Filed under: Crime

We here at City Pages found the University of Minnesota's video on student safety so compelling that a mention in our print blotter just didn’t suffice. After all, lives, and apparently shoes, are at risk even in broad daylight on the U's campus. This is problem we cannot ignore.

In the first sketch on the five-minute video that thankfully cost nothing to make, viewers are introduced to Katie, a studious brunette who is leaving her friend’s apartment after a day of hitting the books. That afternoon, Katie encounters something so dangerous and unusual to the college scene she’s forced to turn around… three drunken college boys shooting lame pickup lines her way.

Katie must not get out much.

“Hey, hey, hey girl, I have an anatomy final tomorrow and I’d absolutely love to study up on you,” says the group’s ringleader, a jester looking fool wearing wacky neon colored hat.

“Hey sweet mama,” says his buddy. “Do you rent or do you own?”

“Own what?” inquires Katie innocently. (She’s just asking for it now.)

“Those wings you angel,” answers drunken boy number two. (And to think, he had us at hello.)

“She must be an angel, but I think she needs a slice of the devil,” responds drunken boy number 3. And, with that, Katie runs for help.

She flips open her pink cell phone and calls 624-WALK for an escort. Sexy mop headed boy in power red jacket to the rescue! With Red at her side, Katie is able to breeze past the inebriated clowns and make it safely home.

“Remember,” says Red as seriously as these words actually can be uttered. “A safe U is a safe you.”

Don’t worry beloved readers, there’s more quality storytelling to come. This is the University News Service we’re talking about here. They spent all winter break filming and writing these clips.

Suddenly, viewers find themselves in the company of a male, bundled up for the winter, his face hidden behind a black scarf and sunglasses. Despite having a Blue Tooth earpiece, this guy, that we’ve named Hercules, holds a cell phone by his ear.

He’s making plans to attend a party that requires “sleep over stuff.”

“What? A toothbrush, too. Oh man, it’s gonna be wild,” he says into the receiver.

As if that exchange wasn’t odd enough to pique your interest, suddenly, from out of nowhere, Hercules is pushed to the ground. A campus mugger has seized the opportunity to prey on the vulnerable cell phone talker/walker stealing his … boot. Then, as if in a moment of after thought, the robber grabs the man’s cell phone and takes off, running into oncoming traffic. (It's too bad he didn't get hit by that truck. Now that would have been good footage!)

Poor Hercules is left to stand in the cold, bootless and with no cell phone to call for help.

Don’t worry, we didn’t name him Hercules for nothing, this guy has magical powers and can relive the last 10 minutes of his life.

Hercules is a back wearing both shoes, walking down the same street as before and this time there’s no talk of toothbrush parties, no cell phone or Blue Tooth ear piece. Alert and attentive, Hercules is able to fend off the “boot bandit” who then runs like a coward into the distance.

Afterwards, the film's director, college employee, Justin Ware, reminds viewers that campus is getting safer and safer everyday, but that doesn't mean bad things don't happen. The hundreds of security cameras dotting campuses in Saint Paul and Minneapolis just aren’t enough, says Ware. Watch where you are going, utilize campus services and call 911 in an emergency. This is how we see that conversation going:

"Hello, 911, someone just stole my shoe!"

"Click."

Posted by Beth Walton at March 6, 2008 3:43 PM | Comments (2)

 

Breakfast of Champions: 3/6

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

"There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man. We're all gonna die." -- Billy, Predator

Why the epigraph from a film that saw Minnesota's then-future, now former governor gutted by an alien? Because there's something out there in space, and it ain't no man, and ... okay, we're probably not all going to die from it. But gamma rays! That would suck.

In other apocalyptic news, Hillary Clinton is holding a beer with her left hand. Therefore, we are all going to die. A shocked nation holds its breath. Our only hope: for Hillary to switch back to the right hand. Or for Barack Obama to start double-fisting. Or for John McCain to snort a fifth of Geritol up a guitar neck. Whichever.

In less grim news, spring (training) is here. Today we introduce our Twins blogger for the season, Judd Spicer. Judd will be checking in with dispatches once or twice a week through Spring Training and once the season begins. In his first piece, he makes the case for Minnesota's pursuit of a fellow you may have heard of -- either from breaking home run records or breaking laws. Allegedly.

If the report Kevin Hoffman links to is to be believed, then the Democrats are headed toward a brokered convention. With Hillary floating the possibility of a Clinton-Obama ticket, who knows?

More meat: Rachel Hutton chronicles the Strip Club, St. Paul's meatatarian center in print this week. Yesterday, she added a side dish of extra online spice.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 6, 2008 7:20 AM | Comments (0)

 

Star will explode in gamma ray burst, dooming all life

Filed under: Science

We're doomed! The Mayans were right about that whole "world ending on Dec. 21, 2012" thing!

Okay, probably not. Inevitably, though, this star will explode into a supernova. That's just fine, given that it's too far away for such an event to pose a threat. If it collapses in a particular type of supernova called a gamma ray burst, though ...

The Bad Astronomy blog does a nice job explaining the inevitable fate of WR 104, and what will happen if it emits gamma rays in this violent type of supernova. Short answer: a number of things have to go wrong in order for us to be in any danger, and we really ought not worry. But if gamma rays head toward Earth from this star's demise, as is possible, that's bad news.

He doesn't answer the one pivotal question, though. Wouldn't this just turn Earth into an entire planet of Incredible Hulks? It would do wonders for politeness if you knew your gamma-absorbing neighbor could turn into an unstoppable force at any slight.

[Oh, and that whole "Mayans believed the world would end in 2012" story? It's a myth, too.]

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 5, 2008 9:48 AM | Comments (5)

 

Breakfast of Champions: 3/5

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

Today's feature finds an undercover Matt Snyders taking you inside the world of Teens Encountering Christ. On the Blotter, Snyders also has the latest on Calvin Christian School in Edina being denied $1.5 million in revenue bonds.

There are some incisive personal details in Beth Walton's story about Iraq Veterans Against the War, the so-called Winter Soldier movement. This is one:

Jen, who does not want her last name used for fear of legal action, is nervously contemplating the day a few years back when, as a guard for a U.S. enemy prisoner of war in Iraq, she purposely poisoned two detainees.

"It didn't truly dawn on me until pretty recently that those guys probably died and it's my fault," says Jen, who moved to St. Paul from Racine, Wisconsin, in January.

The following conversation did not actually happen, but I'll happily perform it "Who's On First" style with any of my carnivorous compadres:

"Hey Shaw, want to go to the Strip Club?"
"Fuck no, those places are totally degrading and sexist."
"No, not a strip club, the Strip Club, the meattacular restaurant Rachel Hutton wrote about."
"I'm a vegetarian."
"... I hate you so much."

For an interview with Barbette's executive chef, turn to James Norton's piece from the print issue. For more info than would fit in print, turn to his Reporter's Notebook.

Kevin Hoffman followed the Democratic primaries last night at Elephants in the Room, and noted that 50 superdelegates are ready to endorse Obama. McCain's getting a big endorsement, too -- from the President -- but this actually is bad news for him.

Rumors about Florida governor Charlie Crist being gay have been around for years, and Paul Demko notes that he could be the first gay VP candidate. Like the neanderthal wing of the Republican Party isn't already hating the McCain candidacy enough.

Ric Flair is retiring, and now is the time to remember your favorite moments from his career. Other places have his greatest matches covered -- I've got some promos. If you don't get chills during "Fire Me! I'm already fired!" then you weren't paying attention to wrestling during the Bischoff era of WCW.

The Minnesota State Council of Machinists has endorsed Al Franken.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 5, 2008 8:05 AM | Comments (2)

 

Machinists back Franken

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

The labor endorsements continue to roll in for Al Franken. Today the senate candidate picked up support from the Minnesota State Council of Machinists. The union represents 5,100 workers in the state. Franken has been consolidating support among labor groups in recent weeks, with Education Minnesota, AFSCME Council 5, and the state council of SEIU all announcing endorsements. This would seem another positive portent for his candidacy heading towards the DFL endorsing convention.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 4, 2008 3:23 PM | Comments (3)

 

Denied in Edina

Filed under: Education

Steve Groen, the superintendent of Edina’s Calvin Christian School, felt pretty good heading into the Edina City Council meeting last night. A month earlier, the council had voted unanimously to consider issuing his school $1.5 million in non-profit revenue bonds to go toward expanding the school’s library and classrooms. Tonight was the big vote and there was reason to feel confident.

But there was one thing standing in the way of the coveted funds: the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

In a letter sent to councilmembers last week Tuesday, the ACLU of Minnesota implored the council to reject the proposal on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

“The constitutional test for whether [such a] revenue bond financing violates the Establishment Clause is a three prong test,” wrote Teresa Nelson. “Whether the pass through bond program advances a clear, governmental, secular interest; whether the program’s primary effect is to advance or inhibit religion; and wherther the program presents the perception of endorsement of religion to the reasonable observer. We believe that the proposed revenue bond financing for the Calvin Christian School would fail that test.”

During the public hearing preceding the vote, Steve Fenlon—a nonprofit tax-exempt finance specialist hired by Calvinist Christian—made the case for the K-8 school by naming a slew of other religious schools that had received revenue bonds.

“In the past five years, it’s become a more popular financing tool for these institutions,” he said.

Three local residents went before the council to voice their opposition to the proposal.

“I think it’s terribly inappropriate for the city to get involved with funding religious study,” said Jonathan Gross, who lives near the school. “By their own admission, there is no separation from educational curriculum and religious instruction.”

(The school’s webpage states: “From the sciences to the arts, from the classroom to the playground, every part of the Calvin experience is built on biblical principles and focused on equipping young disciples of Christ for leadership and service.”)

Unconvinced the funds would finance secular-only aspects or that the addition would create more jobs, the council rejected the resolution.

“I see no way to distinguish between the secular and sectarian,” said Republican-turned-DFLer Mayor James Hovland, who announced he’s running for Congress in Minnesota’s 3rd District last month. “I join my colleagues for their reasons expressed in rejecting this motion.”

The only “yea” came from Scot Housh, who is making a bid to replace Hovland as mayor.

After the vote, Superintendent Groen and his cohorts gathered in the hallway to lick their wounds.

“I’ve done hundreds of these things and this is the first one I’ve seen that’s been turned down,” said a dejected Fenlon.

Calvin Christian officials say the renovation—which has been ongoing since December—will continue as planned.

“We’ll either go back to the city and ask them to reconsider or find some other means of payment,” said Jim De Young, the school’s Development Director.

Posted by Matt Snyders at March 4, 2008 3:17 PM | Comments (3)

 

U of M: Your kids are fat because they don't eat breakfast

Filed under: Health Care

NBC Nightly News yesterday featured a report on a new University of Minnesota study that finds a link between obesity and skipping the bowl of Fruity Pebbles.

Consumer Affairs has a good summary of the findings:

Your mother always told you to eat a good breakfast. Maybe there's something to that.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health have found further evidence to support the importance of encouraging young people to eat breakfast regularly. They found that kids who ate breakfast on a regular basis were less likely than their peers to be overweight.

The study examined the association between breakfast frequency and five-year body weight change in more than 2,200 adolescents, and the results indicate that daily breakfast eaters consumed a healthier diet and were more physically active than breakfast skippers during adolescence.

Five years later, the daily breakfast eaters also tended to gain less weight and have lower body mass index levels – an indicator of obesity risk – compared with those who had skipped breakfast as adolescents.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at March 4, 2008 9:32 AM | Comments (3)

 

Breakfast of Champions: 3/4

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

These roundups have been quick lately, and that's not because I don't have things to say -- it's because we're right on the verge of being able to announce some new site features, and that's taken a lot of attention. New issue later today, and in advance, here are some posts and a slideshow.

Oberstar is one end of the the spectrum, and Bachmann is on the other. Kevin Hoffman points us to the Knowlegis Congressional Power Rankings.

If I had to predict, I would say we're right on the cusp of the Diablo Cody backlash. Which is too bad, because we have one post about her up, and I'm about to do another. Well, it's sort of about her. But Kevin Hoffman's current post is really about Diablo, and has video from SNL.

Dark matter: our astrophysics beat reporter Jeff Severns Guntzel details some Iron Range research.

This should be called the St. Paulmanac, amirite? ... Anyone? Anyone?

Graphic artist Marian Bantjes' work is the focus of our new slideshow.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 4, 2008 7:49 AM | Comments (0)

 

Scientists build a big machine in a deep, dark Minnesota hole

Filed under: Science

"It's dark as a dungeon, way down in the mine" goes the well-worn working class folk ballad. At the long-dormant Soudan mine in the Iron Range--the scene of dramatic strikes and bloody clashes in the early 20th century--physicists from Stanford, MIT and the UofM have been looking for a piece of history that is darker still: the "dark matter" that is said to make up 25% of the universe.

They built the world's most powerful tool to detect dark matter and installed it deep in the mine, where the strange stuff physicists worry about--like interference from cosmic radiation--is not an issue.

The results are in: no stuff-of-the-universe found. Turns out the physicists need a better tool and a deeper hole. So they're packing up their dilution refrigerators and their optical spectrophotometers and moving their Cryogenic Dark Matter Search to Canada. You just can't catch a break on The Range.

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 3, 2008 5:09 PM | Comments (0)

 

Et tu, Ellen Page? Saturday Night Live parody of Diablo Cody

Filed under: City Pages

If the Oscar wasn't enough, then being made fun of on Saturday Light Live should make it official: Diablo Cody is a star. After the jump, you'll find an embed clip of Ellen Page's monologue from over the weekend, including an appearance by Andy Samberg in Diablo's dress. You'll also hear why I think the skit misfires.

Here's the embed:

Personally, I thought this one missed the mark. One problem is that it beats the same dead horse that has already been adequately tortured on the internet for weeks as Diablo-mania morphed into Cody backlash (we get it, she makes up stupid catchphrases with the word "blog" in it).

I thought it was also a somewhat curious choice to cast Samberg as Cody. The whole "sloppy dude wearing a dress" schtick is way played out and only reinforces the feeling that this sketch passed its freshness date even before airing. I would have loved to see what Amy Poehler could have done with the part, and it would have defused some of the criticism that's brewing over Samberg's parting remark, "I was a stripper."

I also find it a bit hypocritical for Samberg to be making fun of Cody for being a catchphrase-spouting web phenom. This is, after all, the same dude who got promoted when his Lazy Sunday clip became a blog sensation. Is making an ironic rap video about weed and cupcakes really morally superior to writing a memoir about a year spent as a stripper?

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at March 3, 2008 3:54 PM | Comments (10)

 

Minnesota Congressional Power Rankings

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

A group called Knowlegis has released Congressional Power Rankings. At 28 in the House, Rep. Oberstar is our most powerful member of Congress. In the senate, Coleman is 82--not much higher than Klobuchar. And despite her cloying attempts to curry favor with the Bush Administration (how'd that go?), Bachmann is among our most ineffectual representatives ... 383 (ouch!). Click through the jump to see where your elected official ranks.

Here's what Knowlegis says about its methodology:

We rated each current Member of Congress on various criteria that demonstrated power and the ability to be effective in Congress in 2007 and 2008. This resulted in a Power Score that ranked members for overall power in each chamber of Congress in our Power Rankings.

Rank/Official/Score

Senate
82. Sen. Coleman (REP-MN) 16.63
94. Sen. Klobuchar (DEM-MN) 13.26

House
28. Rep. Oberstar (DEM-MN-8) 36.86
117. Rep. McCollum (DEM-MN-4) 25.28
138. Rep. Ellison (DEM-MN-5) 22.80
177. Rep. Peterson (DEM-MN-7) 18.98
293. Rep. Ramstad (REP-MN-3) 17.07
308. Rep. Walz (DEM-MN-1) 11.82
363. Rep. Bachmann (REP-MN-6) 9.03
396. Rep. Kline (REP-MN-2) 6.52

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at March 3, 2008 9:00 AM | Comments (9)

 

Breakfast of Champions: 3/3

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

Three days of music filled the Plymouth Radisson during Winter Bluegrass Weekend, and we have a review by Fish DeSmith and slideshow with photos by Ward Rubrecht.

The South by Southwest music festival looms close on the horizon, and Sarah Askari is going. In the meantime, she points us to a torrent packed with music from all of this year's bands.

First Bill Buckley, now the Polaroid instant camera: it's been a hell of a week. It's a good thing they made Memento already. Another passage: one of Kingfield's delicious eateries has shut down.

However you feel about Hillary Clinton's "3 a.m./Children" ad, you've got to love what it inspired. First, a direct response from the Obama campaign. Oh yeah, it's 3 a.m. all right ... and guess who didn't vote for the Iraq war?

This quick rejoinder foreshadows Obama's strategy in the general election should he win the nomination -- hang the unpopular war around the neck of his opponent. This is a good strategy. But I can' t be the only child of the 90s disappointed that he didn't use KLF's "3 a.m. Eternal" as the soundtrack.

Then, two minutes later ... filmmaker Lee Stranahan expertly skewered the ad's concept with this parody vid:

I don't have any kids, so I couldn't possibly care less about foreign policy or national security. But I will say this: all of these ads need more wolves.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 3, 2008 7:11 AM | Comments (0)

 

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