​Rep. Michele Bachmann is a huge draw for Republicans and teabaggers, criss-crossing the country of late to hold forth on the evil socialism of President Barack Obama while helping candidates and her party raise campaign cash.

What she's doing -- helping allies while making deposits in the favor bank -- is pretty common practice, of course, although in her star power has raised some eyebrows among her constituents. It has also become a campaign issue for the two Democrats who want to unseat her, Tarryl Clark and Maureen Reed. Both campaigns have launched interactive maps to make their point. Reed's went up last night and she tweeted about it today. It looks like Clark's went up a short time later -- prompting Reed's campaign manager, Jason Isaacson, to complain to the Strib that Clark was a copycat.

Reed's Where's Michele Bachmann? is a stand-alone Web site with a custom-built interactive graphic. Roll over an icon and you get the destination, the date, a summary of the visit and pithy quote. Tarryl Clark's Where in the world is Michele Bachmann? is a Google map mash-up on her campaign Web site with more or less the same kind of interactivity.

​

​

Photo: DNR

​Along with ice dams melting in our gutters and pot holes swallowing small cars, we have another sure sign of spring: The Department of Natural Resources reminding fisher folk with shacks on frozen lakes to pull them away ASAP.

Goody. Now we in the headline writing business can gear up for another rite of spring: How to gently mock people whose common sense takes a leave of absence when they drive their pickup trucks and SUVs out onto melting ice for a date with the inevitable.

More >>

​Coinciding with the publication of his new book, "American Conspiracies," Huffington Post gives Jesse Ventura free rein today for a rant on President Barack Obama's drug policies, and The Body isn't happy. Not waterboard-threat unhappy. More like policy-wonk unhappy.

"According to reports by Congress and the Treasury Department, American banks are 'collectively the world's largest financial beneficiary of the drug trade' -- with an estimated inflow of about $250 billion a year," he writes. "The hypocrisy is staggering when you consider that the Obama administration's "drug war" budget has about twice as much money going into the criminal justice system than to treatment and prevention."

But isn't it high time for complete reform of our drug policy? We've got a shadow economy happening, friends. One hundred million Americans have sampled marijuana, and that includes almost half of all the seniors in high school. More than 35 million Americans have tried cocaine at some point, and almost as many have taken LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs. Meantime, we've got "grows" or "gardens" of pot springing up all across our western states on public lands--and that includes almost 40 percent of national forests. About 3.1 million marijuana plants were confiscated in national forests over a one-year period, September 2007 to September 2008, carrying a street value calculated at $12.4 billion. I mean, how stupid are we? Go back to Chicago and Prohibition, when Al Capone became more powerful than the government because we'd outlawed the selling of liquor. Legalize marijuana, and you put the cartels out of business! Instead, we're going to further militarize our border and go shoot it out with them? And if a few thousand poor Mexicans get killed in the crossfire, too bad.

​Sigh. It's excuses like these that give fodder to prohibitionists and anti-drug warriors. From the Worthington Daily Globe:

A Fulda teen facing check forgery charges after allegedly writing checks on the accounts of both his stepfather and grandmother told law enforcement he was addicted to salvia, a psychoactive plant that causes euphoria.

More >>

Photo by ricoeurian

​A Minneapolis woman who calls herself a dominatrix has been accused of robbing a blind man in New Hope who uses a wheelchair. She says it was all part of the game and he wanted to be tied up. We are guessing the stealing wasn't part of his request.

Monique Dee McFarland, 34, is charged with felony theft of more than $500. She allegedly took his laptop, digital camera, lockbox, checkbook, keys, wallet and cell phone. That doesn't sound so sexy.

According to the victim, he met McFarland on a chat line. She came to his apartment Feb. 13 and allegedly pulled a knife on him, ordered him to take off his clothes and tied him to the bed. The man estimates she went through his home for 30 minutes and then left him tied to the bed. He managed to get free and call 911.

Another knock to her claim: She has a criminal record of theft convictions in Hennepin, Wright, and St. Louis counties.

A singer who calls himself lovemonger1 butchers Warren Zevon while wearing a shirt that looks like it was stolen David Cassidy's wardrobe. Watch it if you dare. The Vonn reference comes in at about 2 minutes. (Lindsey's Olympics are over, by the way.)

​PolitiFact busts Michele Bachmann again: The District 6 congresswoman and Fox News yakker Sean Hannity warned darkly the other day -- prior to Thursday's White House summit -- about a nefarious Democratic "trick" to ram health care reform down the throats of Republicans using the reconciliation process.

More >>

​Denny Hecker just can't catch a break.

A judge ruled this morning that Hecker will have to cancel his weekend vacation plans -- the most recent in a series of bad days in court for the fallen auto emperor.

Hecker put in a request with U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel yesterday to take his two kids to their Crosslake, Minn. home for three days. The prosecutors immediately objected to the order, arguing that Hecker was more a flight risk than ever.

Noel agreed.

From the Pioneer Press:

The filings also reveal for the first time that Hecker has been restricted to his home in Medina since his initial court appearance Feb. 11 on charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering because of concerns that he might flee.

At his arraignment the judge indicated Hecker would be restricted from traveling outside the state, would have a monitoring device, and an unspecified curfew.

More >>

Photo: White House

​As we told you yesterday, GOP Rep. John Kline of Minnesota got a seat at the table for President Barack Obama's health care negotiations. Here's some of what he said. As you can see from the transcript below, Obama didn't address Kline's points directly -- the congressman was one of a number of Republicans called on to address specific talking points. Nor did Kline lambaste Obama as a socialist. So there's that. Also, in the interests of fairness, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closing remarks are also on video, below.

More >>

Photo: Saurabh Goswami

​Michelle Paters doesn't actually have any children. You'll also be surprised to learn that alcohol was apparently involved. So why would the 23-year-old Howard, Wisconsin, woman offer to sell a 2-year-old baby on Craigslist for $800? For a laugh, WTAQ reports.

Things got more serious when her ad became the subject of news reports in Wisconsin. Realizing her rotten sense of humor had led people astray, she turned herself in, filled with remorse. Lucky for her, the Brown County District Attorney's office declined to file charges, even though the sheriff's office originally said it would seek a disorderly conduct charge.