May 2008

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MC Rove Will Be in Da House Tomorrow

Filed under: Crime

In a move that has baffled everyone from bloggers to the Star Tribune editorial board, the Republican Party has selected a soulless, Machiavellian huckster to deliver the keynote speech at the state GOP convention in Rochester tomorrow.

What would possess a party comprised of intellectually crippled closet-perverts to select Karl Rove remains unclear at this point, though many have speculated that the Party’s shadowy culture of backroom dealing and raging cronyism may have had a hand in the selection. Or maybe it’s Rove’s ability to cut a rug that so entices the party faithful. Dude's considered something of a rock star amongst bullshit peddlers.

At any rate, observers had expected the Party to go its usually route in putting forth a handsome, poised orator (maybe an actor), thus keeping ghouls like Rove safely out of the limelight. (It’s a technique that’s been employed with great success beyond mere speeches— in 1980, the Central Intelligence Agency used it to take control of the executive branch.)

Ron Paul was not invited to the convention for fear his presence would sully the GOP’s good name.

Ah, hell, one more time:

Posted by Matt Snyders at May 30, 2008 4:01 PM | Comments (3)

 

Minnesota's GLBT community reported 137% more violence and intimidation last year

Filed under: Crime

In a new study, The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has found that reports of violence, harassment, and intimidation against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in Minnesota spiked in 2007. Nationally, overall reports went up by an average of 24%. In Minnesota: 135%.

Some additional findings:

- 250% in need for out-patient services for victims of violence
- 200% increase of victims requiring hospitalization or other extended care services
- Increase in use of weapons, felony level assaults (327% increase) and threats of physical harm
- 750% increase in the use of sexual violence
- 125% increase in incidents with 2 or more perpetrators

The report suggests that a factor in these dramatic numbers might well be that more victims are turning to law enforcement than ever before--so more violence, harassment and intimidation is being recorded. According to the report, among clients of OutFront Minnesota, an organization fighting a multi-front battle for GLBT rights for more than two decades, there has been a nearly 50% increase in the number of people in the GLBT community reporting their victimization (the national survey was limited to victims who reached out to NCAVP organizations).

OutFront Minnesota Anti-Violence Program Manager Rebecca Waggoner Kloek is glad to see members of the community overcoming an entrenched and widespread fear of coming forward.

"There are very specific barriers to reporting incidents of violence," says Waggoner Kloek. "The fear of having to come out if your not out already stops you in your tracks. Also, when you are a marginalized community already with a bright spotlight on you, you're not going to report crimes in a climate where people are already saying: Look at those freaks. And with sexual assault there are the issues that effect any victim."

The number of reported crimes certainly suggests a new level of trust between the GLBT community and law enforcement--something OutFront has been working on for sometime, primarily through special trainings offered to the St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments. It's a development Waggoner Kloek is glad to blame a little bit on her organization's work, but she also sees a less hopeful trend in the increased reports.

"In a lot of circumstances," she says, "I'm afraid people are reporting because they can no longer not report. The injuries are greater and the violence is greater. We've moved from a place where it was somebody yelling 'fag' or 'dyke' out of a window to three people beating somebody up on the street. I don't want to be alarmist."

In their work with police recruits, OutFront Minnesota trainers teach the basic language of the GLBT community and how to distinguish, for example, a hate crime from same-sex domestic abuse. In 2008, the organization is focusing on deepening its partnership with law enforcement and spreading out into the courts. "It'll be a lot of systematic training," says Waggoner Kloek. "We have a lot of work left to do."

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at May 30, 2008 1:24 PM | Comments (0)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/30: Wii find the Wii Fit girl

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

You and nearly one million other Internet users have already seen the YouTube video "Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit." Perhaps, like me, you immediately assumed this was a callow ad agency attempt at viral marketing.

Our Gary Hodges tracked down the boyfriend behind the video, and turns out you might be surprised by what he has to say. Also, he subscribes to the Joystick Division RSS feed, so we love him already.

It was a coinflip between going to the Barack Otrama CD release party last night or going out to Brit's with co-workers to celebrate the near-completion of our upcoming Summer Guide. If I had known there would be cupcakes at Barack Otrama, it might have tipped the balance! Oh well. We got photos from B FRESH Photography out of the latter, and the City Pages trivia team emerged victorious at the former.

Matt Snyders' inimitable take on the Pledge of Allegiance includes the following passage:

The pennant in question is known colloquially as “the American Flag,” which features 13 horizontal red and white stripes, with a star-spangled blue blotch in the upper corner. The Flag is intended to evoke emotions of cohesiveness and pride-in-geographic-proximity, and is often displayed publicly to ward off the twin demons of Independent Judgment and Rational Thought. Sometimes referred to as “Old Glory” or “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Flag is believed to magically transmit strength and support to American battalions and U.S.-commissioned mercenary armies currently fighting in killing fields across the globe, especially when coupled with a yellow ribbon.

State government is using the powerful tool called shame to shine the light on sales tax deadbeats. Beth Walton reports.

Like the Rev. Horton Heat would say, it's martini time at Twin Cities Eater. Rachel Hutton alerts you to the Sex and The City cocktails that coincide with the movie's release. I'm an ice wine fan, so I dig the splash of the stuff that goes in the Dakota's Minnesota Martini.

If you haven't seen the Yacht Rock videos, you must. But if you don't like the Web (and if not, what are you doing here?), you can catch them at the BLB next weekend.

Doomtree and the date 7/29/08 are inspiring blogosphere speculation.

If you care about the fate of the newspaper and the future of journalism, this might interest you.

Reason No. 176 to go to a Saints game: you might end up with a valuable collectible, like the Larry Craig Bobblefoot doll.

Jeff Severns Guntzel takes home the 12th Society of Professional Journalists award for City Pages this year.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 30, 2008 7:57 AM | Comments (0)

 

School Board Still Grappling with 'Pledge' Issue

Filed under: Outstate

A school board in western Minnesota is still torn as to whether its students should be forced to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, reports the AP.

Officials at Glyndon's Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school—located just east of Moorhead—suspended three eighth graders earlier this month for refusing to pledge their commitment to a red, white, and blue pennant.

The pennant in question is known colloquially as “the American Flag,” which features 13 horizontal red and white stripes, with a star-spangled blue blotch in the upper corner. The Flag is intended to evoke emotions of cohesiveness and pride-in-geographic-proximity, and is often displayed publicly to ward off the twin demons of Independent Judgment and Rational Thought. Sometimes referred to as “Old Glory” or “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Flag is believed to magically transmit strength and support to American battalions and U.S.-commissioned mercenary armies currently fighting in killing fields across the globe, especially when coupled with a yellow ribbon.

The Pledge itself is usually delivered in a perfunctory monotone by disinterested schoolchildren. The Pledge’s aim is to foster obedience to both the Flag and the nation-state symbolized therein.

At a meeting Tuesday, the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school board voted 3-3 on the measure. The gridlock is expected to be broken at the next meeting, June 19, when all seven members will be present. The ACLU says it will consider a lawsuit should the requirement make its way into the student handbook.

Below is a verbatim transcription of the quasi-prayer students would be obliged to recite each morning:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Posted by Matt Snyders at May 29, 2008 3:19 PM | Comments (5)

 

Want to know what companies are pocketing sales tax? The state government wants you to know too.

Filed under: Business

Think when you hand over that extra 6.5 percent sales tax to store owners they are giving it directly to the state government? Think again.

Last week The Minnesota Department of Revenue launched an Internet database to brandish companies delinquent on their payments with the online scarlet letter of of tax evasion. (Once the tax is paid, the company's name is removed from the list and its sales tax permit is reinstated.)

Since the website's debut last week at least four companies have paid their debt to the state, allowing the agency to collect $124,000 -- small change compared to the upwards of $2 million the remaining some 64 businesses owe.

Nonetheless, the agency sees it's small pocketbook of triumph as rationale for continuing its debt collection using means of humiliation. Minnesota is the only state to publicly list businesses that have not paid the tax, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reports.

"This is exactly the type of success we were hoping for by putting this list on our Web site," said Revenue Commissioner Ward Einess. "It is important that every individual and business pay the state exactly what is owed. Customers paying sales tax trust these businesses to comply with the law."

Even ice cream shops haven't missed the list. According to the database, the Maggie Moos Ice Cream and Treatery franchise in Chanhassen owes $7,240 in sales tax. But that's nothing compared to the $259,358 owed by TNT Motorsports Unlimited in Hamel.

Posted by Beth Walton at May 29, 2008 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

 

A bridge made of 1s and 0s: Will online media (eventually) save the newspaper?

Filed under: Media

Consultant and former journalist Mark Potts has done a lot of thinking about the future of the newspaper. Last year, he did a study into advertising trends that found a gap between that falling rate of print ads and the rapid growth on online ads. He predicted it would take five years or more for the Web-based revenue stream to catch up.

Turns out, as a new American Journalism Review story makes clear, that this was wildly optimistic.

Potts based his research on contemporary stats showing that print ad revenue for newspapers was dropping at around 5 percent per year, while online ad revenue was skyrocketing, showing nearly 20 percent rates of growth. If those numbers had held true, he calculated, papers would take a bath until roughly 2013, and then start to slowly turn around.

As it happens, print ad revenue is now falling about twice as fast as it was last year. And online ads aren't growing fast enough to keep pace. Some of this is due the recession facing all businesses. Not all of it.

There will be winners and losers. And even as the industry as a whole survives, we may begin seeing, pretty soon, big American cities with no daily newspaper.

"It's going to be really bloody, incredibly devastating," Potts predicts. "And I think there are going to be a lot of major metros that don't make it."

It's tough to read this and not think about the Strib. The news isn't all bad, though, as Potts makes clear when kicking around potential solutions. Newspapers have lots of advantages, from intellectual capital to name recognition to (ideally) a honed local focus. Embracing new technologies and ways to push news out -- and finding a way to make money doing it -- is a key next step.

There's a bridge there to be crossed, even if it looks like that bridge from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 29, 2008 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

 

City Pages nominated for 12th SPJ award

Filed under: City Pages

Earlier this month, we learned that the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists had awarded City Pages honors in 11 categories of writing, photography, online journalism, and multimedia production. It turns out that our Jeff Severns Guntzel is up for a 12th award.

Severns Guntzel's piece "The Wedding Crashers," about churches' response to gay marriage, is a winner in the "Short Feature" news category for papers with a circulation of 50,000 or higher.

The order of finish will be announced at the 2008 awards banquet on June 12. In 2005, CP won six SPJ awards, and in 2006 the paper won eight.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 29, 2008 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/29: Radio waves

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

Food writer Rachel Hutton was on the Stephanie and Meredith show's "Foodie Tuesday" segment earlier this week. I'm back on the airwaves this afternoon at 2 p.m., talking about what to do over the weekend. But there are always potential surprises at FM 107.1 -- last time a caller asked me about phone sex. Remarkably, I didn't vapor-lock: thanks, years of doing debate! If you're so inclined, listen live here.

Is there anything Tom Waits can't do? First, he beatboxes on the new Atmosphere record; now, he's providing accompaniment to Minneapolis crime reports. Jeff Severns Guntzel shows the songsmith's prescience.

Speaking of food, are you looking for good solid northern Indian cuisine? Then James Norton suggests you try Gandhi Mahal, next door to Midori's.

Dan Sinykin has a thoughtful and unusual review of author Michael Ondaatje's reading for the Talking Volumes series on Culture to Go.

Translating complex information so that it is both accurate and comprehensible to the average reader is a tough task. A new report argues that journalists covering health issues aren't doing the job, and the consequences fall on the average consumer.

Rich locals are helping to fund the RNC's welcoming efforts, and their efforts are much more successful than their donkeyish counterparts, reports Kevin Hoffman.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 29, 2008 8:43 AM | Comments (0)

 

Meet the new City Pages crime reporter: Tom Waits

Filed under: Drugs

I had been reading criminal complaints at the Hennepin County Courthouse for about an hour when I stumbled upon a Minneapolis Police officer's report of a drug bust on 9th & Hennepin. The inevitable happened: as I scanned the report, I started hearing the Tom Waits song. Then the improbable happened: the officer's narrative and the lyrics to 9th & Hennepin started to seem a little bit like the same story. Back at my desk I tried stitching them together. Here's what came of it. I cut a few lines from the song here and there but the police report is exactly as I found it:

Well it's 9th and Hennepin. All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes and the moon's teeth marks are on the sky.

Police officers were on routine patrol in the area of 9th and Hennepin. They saw a man engaged in what officers believed to be a narcotics transaction.

And the steam comes out of the grill like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow.

The officers saw Defendant in the middle of a hand-to-hand exchange with two other males. When Defendant turned and saw the marked police vehicle in the intersection, he immediately pulled away from the male he was making the exchange with.

And the bricks are all scarred with jail house tattoos and everyone is behaving like dogs.

Defendant began to walk northbound on Hennepin and looked back over his shoulder to watch the officers go through the intersection.The officers circled the block and approached Hennepin from 8th. They were behind a bus as they pulled up to Hennepin, and as the bus pulled away, Defendant walked around the corner about 8 feet from the police vehicle.

And the horses are coming down Violin Road and Dutch is dead on his feet.

An officer got out of the vehicle and told the Defendant to stop. Defendant continued to walk, so the officer took hold of him.

And all the rooms they smell like diesel and you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here. And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway and I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat.

The officer felt Defendant tense up as if he were going to flee or start struggling, so the officer shoved Defendant to the side of the vehicle and tried to handcuff him. Defendant was resisting and failing to comply with the officers' orders.

And no one brings anything small into a bar around here. They all started out with bad directions and the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear. One for every year he's away, she said. Such a crumbling beauty, ah There's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix. And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet 'til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin.

One of the officers attempted to place a neck restraint on Defendant, and as he did so, rocks of suspected crack cocaine fell from Defendant's mouth onto the sidewalk.

And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen.

Defendant tried to grab the suspected crack and put them back in his mouth. After a struggle, officers were able to subdue Defendant and recover the pieces of suspected crack cocaine, which weighed 4 grams and field-tested positive for cocaine.

And I've seen it all, I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train.

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at May 28, 2008 2:39 PM | Comments (2)

 

U.S. Health Journalists Get Failing Grade

Filed under: Media

A new study published in the Public Library of Science found that journalists are getting a failing grade in their coverage of the latest health treatments and interventions. The author of the study argues that consumers getting bad information from the mainstream media could be harmed.

"The stories that we reviewed for the most part paint a sort of kid-in-the-candy-store picture of the U.S. health care system, whereby everything looks terrific, everything looks risk-free and nothing has a price tag associated with it. And nothing could be further from the truth," says Gary Schwitzer, a University of Minnesota journalism professor who has spent the last two years rating the quality of health intervention stories and authored the analysis. More information about Schwitzer's research is available on his personal health blog.

Recently interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio, Schwitzer is most critical of the media’s failure to address cost and safety.

[C]ost is one of the most common omissions in reports on medical treatments. … [A] majority of the stories his team reviewed failed to adequately discuss the price a consumer might have to pay for a new drug, device or test. "Which is really unfathomable to me at a time when the U.S. is devoting 16 percent of the gross domestic product to health care spending and three-quarters of the news stories that we found don't adequately discuss cost," said Schwitzer.

[A]bout 65 percent of the medical stories didn't mention whether there was any possibility of harm associated with a particular treatment. Likewise, if the benefits of a procedure or product were small, he said most stories didn't note that either.

It’s a shame to see mainstream media failing to step up to the plate at a time when even the government can’t adequately address health care.

In the most recent issue of Newsweek, Jonathan Alter connects the dots between Ted Kennedy’s recent cancer diagnosis and Hamilton Jordan’s struggle with the disease. Jordan, a key figure in President Jimmy Carter’s campaign, died last week after surviving four different cancer diagnoses in 22 years.

Cancer is a disease with not enough hope and not enough money. ...[W]e spend more in six months in Iraq ($54 billion) than we've spent in 30 years on the National Cancer Institute, which funds most cancer research. Today, only two in 10 grant proposals from qualified researchers are funded by the NCI, which means that plenty of possible cures die for lack of funding.

Posted by Beth Walton at May 28, 2008 11:52 AM | Comments (1)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/28: Month in review

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

End-of-the-month roundup time, and it's an especially strong Month in Photos, I think. Wolf pups and gimp masks and lowriders, bands like M.I.A. and Rilo Kiley, and much more.

There's also the new issue to consider. The GOPFathers is our featured list of 10 influential Minnesota Republicans you may not have heard of.

Speaking of slideshows, we covered the Latino festival Vive Minnesota in pictures, and Rachel Hutton's food feature about the International Marketplace is accompanied by pictures of the Hmong market. Plus, check out the recipes.

How can George Clinton still be going strong while pushing 70? Witness the transformative power of funk in Daniel Corrigan's photos and Nate Patrin's review of Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.

Once you read Andrea Myers's column about "Hallelujah," check out videos of the Leonard Cohen song as well.

Chris Chike, who made the cover of our paper as the world-record holder for Guitar Hero, has just signed an endorsement deal.

Is this really James Lileks? You be the judge.

Judd Spicer reviews his predecessor as Twins blogger's new novel.

I for one am shocked to find that a a video dissing Hillary Clinton while using Nazi imagery exists on YouTube.

Sick of that Wii Fit already? Find yourself getting bored with the platter? Gary Hodges has some ideas for you.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 28, 2008 8:48 AM | Comments (0)

 

Local Guitar Hero signed to endorsement deal

Filed under: City Pages

Chris Chike, the teenage gamer whom City Pages profiled after he set the Guinness World Record for highest score on Guitar Hero, has been signed to an endorsement deal.

The exclusive, longterm contract makes Chike an official spokesman and consultant for The Ant Commandos, a company that manufacturers the plastic guitar peripheral and other videogame accessories.

"We look at him as our Tiger Woods," says Raymond Yow, the director of marketing for TAC. "We always look for this type of talented videogamer to help us design a better product. To spend so much time on this thing, they know things that other people don’t know, to really push the product, and we want that."

Although the monetary details are being kept under wraps, the deal comes with one very cool perk. Starting next month, Chike will begin meeting with an engineering team to create a special high-end guitar for top-level players.

"It’s going to have a lot of interesting new technology in it—totally different than all the guitars you see right now for the game," Yow says, adding that he expects the controller to be available by the end of the year in time for Christmas.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 28, 2008 6:57 AM | Comments (2)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/27: My First Death Threat

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

When I was first coming up in the journalism business, I worked as the sports editor of a small twice-weekly paper in Washington state.

We did a lot of work at that paper that I'm still proud of today -- printing the first gay wedding announcement in the rural county where we published, doing award-winning investigative work about crooked politicians, digging deep into the role of the military industrial complex in the local economy -- controversial stuff.

Amid all this impactful journalism, though, an item I thought was pretty middle-of-the-road got me what is to this day the only open death threat I have ever received.

A nearby high school's mascot was the "Redskins." However you feel about the issue of Indian mascots generally, c'mon -- that's a racial epithet. It shouldn't be a sports team's signifier.

That's how I feel. But I didn't write it. Instead, I wrote what I thought was a very balanced opinion piece about how we, like the Portland Oregonian, wouldn't be using that term in our paper. We'd instead use terms like "The Port Townsend team." The column was calm. It was reasonable. It was -- I'll be frank -- a little wimpy, I thought.

That week, I received a manila envelope in the mail. It contained wildly scrawled threats, and artistic renderings of me being dismembered. The sender had found a picture of me, and cut the head out, and done a drawing where my blood and innards were draining from my neck.

This was and remains bizarre to me. Of all the work we'd done -- staking out houses, publishing classified documents, defending at times very unpopular stands on the issues of the day -- this is what gets me some kook with a penchant for blood-red watercolor?

People get attached to these mascots, irrationally so. It's a strange world where a guy gets so worked up about high school sports that this is the result. But then again, it's a strange world where a guy that dresses up like Hitler can hold a school hostage for $100 million just so the mascot remains the "Fighting Sioux".

I also want to include one last tidbit from the MPR report linked therein:

[University Spokesperson Peter Johnson] says ironically, some of the racist graffiti was scrawled on buildings while the university was hosting a conference on diversity.

That's probably not irony. That's probably scheduling.

On a happier note, Over the Weekend is an extended remix edition of the holiday's music. We also have David Hansen's review of Soundset festival to correspond with a slideshow

It's tomato time, and Rachel Hutton has a list of garden must-grows. Rachel will also be on FM 107.1 this afternoon at 2 p.m. as part of Stephanie & Meredith's "Foodie Tuesdays." Click the Listen Live button to listen online.

Are you a filmmaker? Do you like beer? Has James Norton got a deal for you.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 27, 2008 7:29 AM | Comments (1)

 

Swastikas found on UND campus, home of the Fighting Sioux

Filed under: Race

Racist graffiti including swastikas appeared on the University of North Dakota's campus in Grand Forks, and many thought the school should have acted more swiftly. An MPR report last week includes a quote that is absolutely correct about the issue's trees, but misses the forest.

"But we also have problems on this campus," says [Marcia Mikulak, an anthropology professor], "and those problems need to be addressed when they occur. Whenever something like a swastika or any other symbol of oppression appears on a campus, we need to push back very quickly, very firmly." [Emphasis added]

Personally, I couldn't agree more. Let's ask someone close to the university: the mascot. What say you, Fighting Sioux guy?

Believe me, bringing up the mascot issue here isn't an attempt to minimize the swastika graffiti. It's abhorrent, completely unacceptable and a swift, resolute response is essential. But everybody with a functioning brain understands why swastikas are vile. Indian mascots tend to get a free pass.

They shouldn't.

To be fair, North Dakota's practices in this arena are far from the country's worst. As school president Charles Kupchella pointed out in his response letter to the NCAA, North Dakota students "do not do tomahawk chops," "do not have white guys painted up like Indians," and their "fans do not do Indian chants" (especially disturbing, given that many of these chants parody Indian religious practices).

This is damning with faint praise, however. Exercising restraint over the most jaw-droppingly offensive practices does not excuse making a mascot of another race, culture and religion. Mascots are little identities that we adopt on for a while, like a fierce bear or a wild eagle. This becomes deeply problematic if the identity being tried on is another ethnic group's.

Stereotyping is part of the problem, yes, but it's not the core of why Indian mascots are uniformly inappropriate. It's appropriation, where people largely of one culture take this representation of a minority population and use it for their own purposes. Put most any ethnic group in the place of "Sioux" there, and there would be an outcry, let alone an ethnic group that's faced the type of oppression -- symbolic and otherwise -- that American Indians have. To do so effectively dehumanizes an entire sector of people, reducing them to tools for another peoples' amusement.

That's why the NCAA calls the North Dakota mascot "hostile" to native people, and why the Standing Rock Sioux, Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux, and Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation have all passed resolutions against the use of the mascot. Even if you're not willing to accept the general rule of "don't name your sports teams after a minority ethnic group," don't you have to respect the wishes of the group in question if they tell you to knock it off?

Respect for different cultures tends to spill over. It's telling that the graffiti incident isn't the first problem minority students have had at the school. In fact, some troubles Indian and Jewish students experience stem from a common source.

Kupchella was also the [university] president in 2000, when casino magnate Ralph Engelstad threatened to withdraw a $100 million gift to the university if it acceded to the wishes of Native American tribes and dropped its Fighting Sioux mascot. Engelstad had already brought the university under fire a decade earlier, when media reports appeared saying that had had thrown parties on Hitler’s birthday and that his office featured matching portraits of himself and Hitler in uniform. A university commission that vetted the gift declared that Engelstad was guilty only of “bad taste.” In both instances, UND accepted the gift. [Emphasis added]

Yeah, "bad taste." Like "makes you want to vomit" bad taste. This shines a light on a particular mentality, though.

People get attached to their mascots. History is part of that; people like being a part of a tradition. But people also like keeping things that aren't theirs, even symbols and identities. When people like Ralph Engelstad are willing to blackmail a school for a fortune over an Indian mascot, it shows you there's more at work here than football or hockey.

To paraphrase that anthropology professor, whenever a symbol of oppression appears on campus, there needs to be pushback from the community. The swastika is certainly one. Sadly, not the only one.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 27, 2008 5:49 AM | Comments (2)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/26: Holiday weekend edition

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

Suggested listening for today: "Memorial Day" by the Perceptionists. More music in mere moments, as photos come in from Soundset.

Beth Walton reports on the controversy about restrictions on free speech with respect to RNC protests.

Al Franken wrote for Playboy, and somehow this is a big deal to GOP activists. At least Al didn't suggest assassinating the opposition's frontrunner would be a good thing. Only Fox News gets to do that.

Walking With Dinosaurs, the prehistoric stage romp, has a series of numbers associated with it. Ben Palosaari has the breakdown.

Also, Tim Pawlenty: still in the mix for the second banana slot to John McCain

The much-anticipated game Haze is surrounded by a thick layer of dumb, writes Gary Hodges.

The arboretum has its own farmers' market, just in time for outdoor festivities.

Local UFC fighter Sean Sherk went down to defeat in his title match this weekend. Should he drop down a weight class?

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 26, 2008 7:15 AM | Comments (1)

 

VP Pawlenty Meter: 10 things you didn't know about T-Paw, and three things you did

Filed under: VP Pawlenty Watch

Will Governor Tim Pawlenty become our nation's next vice president? It's hard to keep track of all the many factors at play. Each week, the VP Pawlenty Meter (TM) provides an odds sheet to ensure you make your best bet.

T-Paw isn't able to attend this week's Veep barbecue at the McCain homestead, but that hasn't stopped speculation that he's the frontrunner in the veepstakes.

Pawlenty now holds a commanding lead in the political markets, which tracks public opinion like stock picks. Romney owns a point and a half lead over Romney, whom McCain doesn't particularly like, and the rest of the top five is sort of a "fantasy list" that's unlikely to reflect the campaign's actual thinking.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: 18 percent

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: 16.8 percent

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: 11.4 percent

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: 6.5 percent

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani: 6.2 percent

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: 5 percent

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham: 3 percent

(”Field” category given 46.3 percent odds)

Reflecting this convention wisdom, U.S. News & World Reports treats us to a T-Paw primer, called 10 Things You Didn't Know About Tim Pawlenty. Among them:

8. Pawlenty is a fan of rock music, including artists such as Bruce Springsteen. In the fall of 2001 when he kicked off his gubernatorial campaign in South St. Paul, the song playing was Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son."

Three Things We Do Know About Tim Pawlenty

1. His wife won't sleep with him.
2. He disagrees with McCain on the cause of the 35W bridge collapse.
3. He and Carol Molnau were the cause of the 35W bridge collapse.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 23, 2008 11:38 AM | Comments (0)

 

They read it for the articles: GOP attacks Franken with Playboy column

Filed under: Al Franken

Republicans are hitting Al Franken below the belt, literally,circulating a fictional sex story he wrote for Playboy.

Yesterday the GOP circulated a letter calling on Franken to apologize to women for the January 2000 column, called "Porn-O-Rama!" In the article, Franken imagines visiting a sex institute that offers all manner of virtual sex. Here's a sample:

My nervousness disappeared, and I sat back and enjoyed the amazingly realistic cyber job. It was every bit as good as the last real blow job I had gotten 23 years earlier-if not better-because when I shot my wad, the virtual mouth swallowed.

Rep. Joyce Peppin was among the critics of the column:

“As a woman, as a mother, wife and sister, I am offended by Al Franken’s continuing depiction of women as objects for men to enjoy and mock," she said.

The attack was well-timed, as it coincided with Playboy CEO Christie Hefner holding a Franken fundraiser.

Of course, politicians writing pornography is nothing new, as this Slate article makes clear. Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice President and Prince of Darkness Dick Cheney, is well known for having written some racy lesbian passages in her 1981 novel Sisters.

It seems an especially odd line of attack considering that Coleman's wife uses sex in the come-on for her business, Blo and Go and has done some modeling that would fit right in with Playboy's lingerie issue. (It appears Coleman has managed to scrub the internet of the most tawdry picture--substituting this much tamer picture in its place--though you can still see a thumbnail of it here.)

This isn't the first time Senator Norm Coleman has tried to have it both ways. For a profile of the senator who was for Democrats before he was against them, read Paul Demko's feature story.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 23, 2008 9:55 AM | Comments (2)

 

Minnesota's students (barely) above average

Filed under: Education

Minnesota has long prided itself as a leader in higher education. The government-issued Minnesota Measures report released last month calls that perception into question.

One barometer of success in higher education is the rate at which students complete their degrees. In 2005, 34 percent of students attending Minnesota's two-year schools graduated within three years. While that's good for 24th place overall (we did mean barely above average), it's nearly 30 points lower than first-place South Dakota, as noted here.

Minnesota's four-year graduation rate in the same year? 35 percent. This is good for 21st place overall, but certainly nothing to write home about. When you break down the numbers further, they get even uglier. At our state colleges and universities, only a fifth of students graduate in four years, and fewer than half graduate in six years. In other words? We've got some work to do.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at May 23, 2008 9:53 AM | Comments (0)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/23: Working for the Weekend

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

A mere day after I warned against playing the Summon Paulbots card, Kevin Hoffman tempted fate by doing just that in a post that asked whether the FBI should be watching vegan potlucks or the Paul supporters.

The whole comment thread is gold, but I'm already giving this the early nod for comment of the year:

"Ron Paul's people are not vegans and neither is Ron Paul. He's a red blooded meat-eating American veteran and I can vouch for that personally."

Not only has this commenter had barbecue with Ron Paul, he evidently cut Ron Paul open just to make sure his blood was the crimson-hued type we expect from a non-Vulcan.

I hope they make another CGI ad of Ron with the text underscore: "Not a vegan. Suck it, Kucinich."

A new study might pave the way for Cargill's stevia-based sweetener to come to market. But is it safe? We look into stevia's potential risks and what the FDA does now.

Indie rock darlings Rilo Kiley played the First Avenue Mainroom last night, and we have a slideshow with 18 photos of Lewis and company by Daniel Corrigan. Also see Amber Schadewald's review.

Thirsty? Ready to kick of the weekend with the No. 1 cocktail at the Local? Try the Big Ginger, this Friday's Drink of the Week.

U.S. News And Also World Report chimes in on our senatorial race.

From Joystick Division, we learn that the new Penny Arcade Game is good, the Guitar Hero video spoof from an American Idol winner is bad, and the prospects of making it with a job in the industry might be ugly.

Ever wanted to work at Ren Fest? To go back in time before the end of chivalry and the onset of penicillin and personal hygiene? Of course you have. Jessica Armbruster tells you how.

The man who spawned the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync is going to jail. Sadly, not for the crime of spawning the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.

I was thrilled to find this live recording of a Husker Du show from 1981, but dismayed to find no "Gilligan's Island" on the setlist. Nothing quite like Grant Hart asking the Professor to make good drugs for him.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 23, 2008 7:52 AM | Comments (0)

 

More "Moles" on Air America tonight

Filed under: City Pages

After you read Moles Wanted, our story about a local man recruited by the FBI to infiltrate vegan potlucks, listen to author Matt Snyders discuss the story on Air America Radio. Snyders will be on the Rachel Maddow show tonight at 6:30 local time.

Snyders is on the show for just under 10 minutes, discusses past Republican National Conventions and the scene on the ground here.

You can listen live on the Web here. Or if you're in the car, the local affiliates are KTNF AM 950 and WWWI AM 1270.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 22, 2008 2:38 PM | Comments (0)

 

We read it so you don't have to: U.S. News on Al Franken/Norm Coleman race

Filed under: Media

The new issue of U.S. News (& World Report) has a prominent article on the Senate campaign pitting Al Franken against Norm Coleman. Since nobody reads U.S. News anymore, we'll summarize it:

Obligatory SNL joke in headline/subhed: "Not a Laughing Matter / Comedian Al Franken's Minnesota Senate campaign is no joke." Somewhere, originality is rolling over in its grave.

How we look from New York: "With 5.2 million people, Minnesota boasts the nation's highest voter turnout--officials say 80 percent could cast a ballot November 4--and has not gone for a Republican presidential candidate since Nixon in 1972, longer than any other state." Oh, you plucky Midwesterners, way to stick with the whole "Democrat" thing.

Best diss by Franken: "Some counter that Coleman, a former Democrat who left to join the GOP in 1996, has an image problem, too, including Franken, who has called him a 'windsock.'" Get it? Blows whichever which way the ... Aw, forget it.

Coleman preens in the national spotlight: "Meantime, he'll usher the GOP National Convention into the Xcel Energy Center--"The House that Norm Built," as he boasts, since it was a key project during his mayoral years--in September." Coleman has similarly grandiose and self-congratulatiory names for everything else in his life, including his morning stools.

Obligatory SNL kicker: "Which could provide a lesson for Franken: Leave Stewart Smalley at home." This could provide a lesson to the reader: This author was neither good enough nor smart enough to come up with a fresh note to end on.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 22, 2008 8:45 AM | Comments (6)

 

Cargill's new sweetener won't kill you or make you go sterile ... probably

Filed under: Business

I like nature more than the next guy, but have turned a skeptical eye towards "natural" sweeteners. Nightshade's natural, and so are box jellyfish. You won't catch me putting either in my yerba mate. But now a Minnesota company is hoping I'll sweeten the beverage with a new "natural" product that has inspired past concern over health effects.

Yerba mate's my beverage of preference because I'm allergic to coffee, and because I enjoy its unique, bracing taste. For years, people have been drinking the South American tea -- and masking the taste with leaves from a plant called stevia, an herb that's sweeter than sugar.

Minneapolis-based Cargill has planned for some time to introduce a no-calorie sweetener using the stuff, and announced new research last week that it claims proves the product's safety. Cargill's planned product goes by the proprietary name Rebiana.

While legal as a supplement here and common in countries like Japan, the Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved stevia for use as a food additive due to concerns over cancer, reproductive health and other health problems. As the Wall Street Journal reports:

Stevia isn't approved for use as a food additive in the U.S. Studies over the past two decades on its health effects have logged in a number of problems, from research in 1985 finding potential mutations in the livers of rats to concerns about fertility problems in men.

The herb has staunch advocates, as any Google search reveals. But scientific study results (and reviews) are much more mixed than the rosy believers hold. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has even-handed commentary, including links to the studies, here.

While troubling, none of these studies were conclusive. To get a watchdog group's take on Cargill's new information, I called David Schardt, senior nutritionist for CSPI, who said that the FDA has been right not to approve stevia in food so far.

"We can't just put anything into food: it has to be safe. And it's up to companies to provide that evidence," he said. "Until now, no one has done that research."

Throughout this year, scientists will be weighing in on the research. Cargill's position, according to the FDA -- the company didn't return my calls -- is that past health risks identified in studies may have been due to impure extracts of stevia. They believe their product uses "a purified constituent of stevia that they have extensively studied for safety," said FDA spokesperson Michael Herndon. It is not the same ingredient as whole stevia leaf.

This safety information needs to confirmed by careful examination of the studies. "If that's true, that would be good news -- we'd have a non-caloric, natural sweetener, which people would like," said Schardt. "That would be good news for everybody."

But can we really trust industry-sponsored science? "One always has to keep it in mind, but you have to be realistic," Schardt says. "Who else is going to this research?"

Since Cargill's research was keenly focused on this particular product, even if the FDA grants Rebiana approval, this will not make other forms of stevia legal as food additives. This is significant because numerous competitors have stevia products they would like to bring to market.

According to the FDA, Cargill has sent them an notice arguing that the new study means Rebiana should be "Generally Recognized as Safe" under the law. The federal government now has 180 days to respond, which is quicker than many FDA processes -- meaning this new sweetener could be on the market by winter.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 22, 2008 6:32 AM | Comments (2)

 

Breakfast of Champions 5/22: The Summoning

Filed under: Breakfast of Champions

Do you believe in Magic? I do. At least, I believe in this card.

The Summon card is like Colt .45. It works every time. Just check the thread.

Baby Guts releases a new disc a week from today with a celebratory show, and we have the Flyer of the Week to prove it. Also, I can't help but note that the Vignettes open that show, which means it's worth checking out for their assortment of handmade stuffed creatures (and quirky, rocked-up power pop) alone.

Also, if you ask politely and give them $2, the Vignettes will draw your picture. They did one for me last month, and I think it's a great likeness:

Mason Jennings' new album is out, and Andrea Myers tells you where to can listen to it streaming -- as well as what tracks are worth listening to.

Did cheap fiscal policies play a role in the 35W bridge collapse? A new report says yes.

Ward Rubrecht is an unstoppable killing machine! Bent on destroying all in his path! Especially bent on destroying unrealistic elements in games! Raaah! Ward will smash!

Two new updates and Tim Pawlenty's potential VP status.

The Strib's online ranking is healthy, even higher than the vaunted New York Times.

Petey P. Cup. Sound it out. Okay, now spell out the last word out loud. Now I'm just being ridiculous.

Where else but Twin Cities Eater can you find a secret discount grocery spot, information about a little-known Amishg enclave, and audio of a giant talking cow?

The Wii Fit might might be sold out everywhere, but I'm still pulling out all the stops to get a review copy. Me and Nate Patrin have a "Wii Fit vs. DDR" battle post planned, and this needs must happen.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 22, 2008 6:30 AM | Comments (1)

 

Who's to Blame: Cheap fiscal policies led to 35W bridge collapse

Filed under: Bridge Collapse

If you thought faulty gusset plates were going to exonerate Governor Tim Pawlenty and former transportation chief Carol Molnau from blame, think again.

A new report released today lays the blame squarely at the feet of cheap fiscal policies. From the AP's article:

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Transportation officials' concerns that fixing or replacing a Minneapolis bridge would be a "budget buster" may have led to bad maintenance decisions before its deadly collapse last August, a report released Wednesday concluded.

The report, commissioned by the Legislature, also criticized the Minnesota Department of Transportation for bridge inspections that were mishandled or not acted upon over the years, even when they called for immediate repairs.

The department has come under sharp criticism for its upkeep of the 40-year-old Interstate 35W bridge, even as an ongoing federal investigation has highlighted a design flaw and the weight of construction materials on the bridge, rather than maintenance, as critical factors in the collapse that killed 13 people.

"Financial considerations, we believe, did play a part in the decision-making" over repair of the bridge, said Robert Stein, who oversaw the report prepared for lawmakers by the law firm Gray Plant Mooty.

This was the suspicion of City Pages authors G.R. Anderson and Paul Demko when they wrote Who's to Blame? shortly after the bridge collapse.

And this part, from the Strib's story, reminds me of life under Saddam Hussein as described by Mark Bowden:

The investigators said they found that financial considerations influenced decisions that were made about the bridge, and that decisionmakers didn't always get complete and thorough information about the bridge's condition.

"They were also not unaware of the political heat they would get [if they closed] a bridge like that," said Bruce Mooty, one of the lawyers making the presentation this morning.

Speaking of G.R. Anderson, his take on the new report was just posted at MinnPost. Here's his summary:

• MnDOT policies were not followed in critical respects.
• Decision-making responsibility was diffuse and unclear.
• Financial considerations may have adversely affected decision-making.
• Expert advice was not used effectively.
• MnDOT did not follow its own policies with respect to reporting the deteriorating condition of the bridge and did not document inspection report findings
• MnDOT did not sufficiently consider the impact of the 2007 construction activities.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 21, 2008 8:01 PM | Comments (1)

 

VP Pawlenty Meter: Did T-Paw snub McCain or was it the other way around?

Filed under: VP Pawlenty Watch

Will Governor Tim Pawlenty become our nation's next vice president? It's hard to keep track of all the many factors at play. Each week, the VP Pawlenty Meter (TM) provides an odds sheet to ensure you make your best bet.

The New York Times is reporting that McCain is meeting with potential running mates on Friday. Pawlenty isn't going, but supposedly has other commitments (yeah, cause a wedding is more important than meeting with the potential future leader of the free world):

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Friday is scheduled to meet with two Republican governors who have been prominently mentioned as potential running mates, according to Republicans familiar with Mr. McCain’s plan.

Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, and Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, have both accepted invitations to meet with Mr. McCain at his home in Arizona, according to Republicans familiar with the decision. One Republican said that Mitt Romney, a former rival of Mr. McCain for the presidential nomination — is also expected to visit him this weekend. Mr. Romney’s advisers declined to comment.

...

Another governor who has been prominently mentioned as a strong contender to run with Mr. McCain, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, is not going to Arizona; his associates said he had a wedding on Saturday

In light of this, we're reducing the VP Meter to blue (as in: "You blew it").

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 21, 2008 5:22 PM | Comments (2)

 

Meet Petey P. Cup

If you’re one of those people who gets a kick out of unironic absurdity, you’re, uh… urine luck. [Groan] (Sorry for that.)

In an effort to “humanize [their] medical devices,” HealthPartners has unveiled their new mascot— a personified pee cup named Petey P. Cup. The unconventional spokesman apparently targets the coveted eager-to-piss-in-anthropomorphic-jars demographic. Check him out below.

Listed as “Coming soon,” is Petey’s sidekick, Pokey the Syringe. Presumably, he’ll be that rare child-friendly character who discourages sharing.

Other mascots who were considered but ultimately axed include Carl C. Colostomy Bag, Katherine P. Catheter, and Eddie the Enigmatic Enema, a mysterious villain who was to use his medical powers for evil. We'll leave it at that.

Also: Petey has his own Facebook profile. (Ladies, take note: He’s totally single. And loves Grey's Anatomy.)

[Hat tip: MinnPost]

Posted by Matt Snyders at May 21, 2008 4:21 PM | Comments (0)

 

VP Pawlenty Watch: When will McCain's running mate be announced?

Filed under: VP Pawlenty Watch

Will Governor Tim Pawlenty become our nation's next vice president? It's hard to keep track of all the many factors at play. Each week, the VP Pawlenty Meter (TM) provides an odds sheet to ensure you make your best bet.

Tim Pawlenty has been a veepstakes frontrunner (and has been denying he's interested in the job) seemingly forever. When's the damn announcement going to be made already?

If history is any indication, it'll be around the last week of August.

This site takes a look at previous running made announcements and finds they invariably happened right before the national convention:

Besides the Edwards selection in 2004, every running mate in recent presidential history has been announced days before the party’s national convention. Obviously, many presumptive nominees have choices in mind throughout the primary season and into early summer. History, tradition, and party politics, however, have made it the norm to publicly introduce running mate selections only days in advance of their official nomination at the convention.

Here's a table of the data:

Year-----Ticket----------------------------------------Announced

2004-----John Kerry/John Edwards------------July 6th (DNC: July 26-29)
2000-----George W. Bush/Dick Cheney-----July 25th (RNC: July 31-Aug. 3)
2000-----Al Gore/Joe Lieberman---------------August 8th (DNC: Aug. 14-17)
1996-----Bob Dole/Jack Kemp-----------------August 11th (RNC: Aug 12-15)
1992-----Bill Clinton/Al Gore--------------------July 10th (DNC: July 13-16)
1988-----Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentse----July 13th (DNC: July 18-21)

Of course, if McCain was gonna pick T-Paw, don't you think he'd want to announce from the convention floor when the RNC is in his homestate? Maybe we'll have to wait till September ...

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 21, 2008 2:14 PM | Comments (0)

 

Wii Fit is sold out everywhere and selling for $300 on Ebay

Filed under: Pop Culture

Hoping to celebrate Memorial Day by staying inside and practicing Yoga by balancing on a hi-tech piece of white plastic? Good luck finding a copy of Wii Fit--it's sold out everywhere in the Twin Cities. At my local Best Buy, I saw a pyramid of boxes of the $90 apparatus, but was quickly informed they were pre-orders. The store's regular stock sold out within 45 minutes of being put on the shelves.

If you see it anywhere you should buy it, because the $90 product is selling for upwards of $300 on Ebay.

If you want to know what all the fuss is about, check out Chris Ward's blog post and stay tuned to Game On.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 21, 2008 1:20 PM | Comments (0)

 

Good news for the Star Tribune: It has a higher online rank than the New York Times

Filed under: Media