Dr. Maureen Hackett--she of the 'lower-middle class home'--is running for Congress. The photo above comes from her website, showing one sentence from the quotations potpourri otherwise known as The Eden Prairie Veterans Memorial, our ostensibly guilt-assuaging little ransom note of a monument.
This [...]
Three days ago Kevin Rudd--Australia's Labor PM--issued an apology 'to the Forgotten Australians - the half a million children raised in institutions, orphanages and foster care throughout the last century.' Nine hundred people assembled for the public apology, which was accompanied by an air of contrition, remorse' [...]
My web surfboard recently alighted upon Lashing Back The Waves of Stupid, by local Big League Blogger Mitch Berg. Berg--displaying Trafalgar Square--says the 'tribute to Lord Nelson and his epic naval victory at Trafalgar is one of the signature sites in' [...]
Edina Republican blogger Angela Berger--aka Conservative Cravings--praises Sarah Palin in her current post. Berger specifically finds Palin's antiabortion and pro-abstinence stances worthy of commendation. That's an odd reason for liking John McCain's calamitous Veep choice, no?
I attended a debate this evening at the U in which PZ Myers took on creationist Jerry Bergman. Myers is of course generally correct, but one seeks to project a kindly face toward people advocating kooky cosmological views. (You seek--above all--to [...] 
The advertisement promised a 'challenging and thrilling' diversity workshop this morning at the Education Center near Eden Prairie's City Hall. Our leader: Syl Jones, playwright and former lightning rod race man of the Strib's op-ed page. A crowd of about one hundred people--perhaps 90% female--attended [...] Erik Paulsen droned a Brezhnevian Veterans Day chant today:
"Veteran’s Day is truly a day in which we remember the cost of freedom. The freedoms we enjoy today are the result of over two centuries of sacrifice by our men and women of the Armed Forces. Each time our" [...]
Condoleezza Rice spoke this evening at the conservative [in both senses] Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park--and Women Against Military Madness arranged an anti-torture rally outside the event. [Strib, KSTP, Fox, MPP] About one hundred protesters showed [...] 'One of the saddest episodes in American history was the fact that these vets were often shunned and neglected--even demonized--when they came home. That was a national disgrace. On days such as this, we resolve to never let it happen again.' -- President Barack Obama
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Americans with access to [...]
Sue Shuff hosted a $35 per person fundraiser for the CD3 DFL this evening. A number of gubernatorial candidates attended. (Surrogates represented Steve Kelley, Tom Bakk and Tom Rukavina.) Here are a few snapshots from the event: [...] Lauren Carlson-Vohs writes this week's Spiritually Speaking column in The Eden Prairie News. The country is going to hell in a handbasket, Carlson-Vohs allows. 'It seems a calling to each of us to take inventory of our spiritual values and act upon them.' (What difference would it' [...]
Page OnePage TwoPage ThreePage FourPage Five**Register of Actions...or search here for Case 27CR0947231 **Fox reportStrib ReportMe [...] 
The Rev. Tim Johnson responded to my recent post on his Speaking of Faith column. He writes:
With your already-confirmed distrust of the Bible, I am not surprised that any reference that may be made to it in your mind automatically discounts the value of [...]
Civil rights legend--and soon-retiring NAACP Chairman--Julian Bond is visiting Carleton College over the upcoming several days. Carleton's Black Student Alliance hosted an informal dinner and discussion this evening with Bond and Pamela Horowitz, his wife. About' [...] 
I asked the Eden Prairie Police to provide their report on the Farah incident. Here's what they sent:
An Eden Prairie man--Abdulahi Hassan Farah--'was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with making terroristic threats, a felony,' reports the Strib's Vince Tuss. Farah's crime? He expressed an unpopular political viewpoint while visiting the Eden Prairie Library. The Star Tribune continues:
Eden [...]
For weeks a number of bloggers had been berating Rep. Erik Paulsen for cancelling CD3's lengthy Town Hall Meeting tradition. Paulsen eventually relented--declaring a Town Hall on 9/11/09. The audience was larger than I'd previously witnessed with Rep. Jim Ramstad--and with the Congressman much farther [...] Hello Ms. Leah Shaffer:
"In lieu of district town hall meetings, Paulsen has opted to hold smaller forums with groups of constituents ranging from seniors to meetings with large employers and business leaders. Additionally, Paulsen has been holding "tele-town hall meetings" where constituents can put forward" [...]
Supporters rally behind the freshly-booked Dr.
James McLeod - downtown Minneapolis, Spring, 2004
Eddie Adams on the big picture
Vietnam veteran Randall Omlie makes a number of points on the Vietnam War, in the 7/30/09 Eden Prairie Sun Current. Omlie says the US government showed honorable appreciation to returning Vietnam veterans, but the vets had to endure blistering public scorn and ill-intentioned [...]
I just reread the police report on the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. incident; something struck me: From the very beginning of their encounter, Off. Crowley acknowledges his awareness--even prior to viewing Gates' Harvard University ID--that Gates 'was lawfully in the residence':
The brilliant Will Wilkinson has a newish paper out--Thinking Clearly about Economic Inequality, arguing that consumption statistics mean more than income statistics, in measuring economic inequality. (Consumption inequality proves less marked than income inequality.) Wilkinson interestingly calls into question conventional normative analyses relating to economic inequality, arguing [...]
Sheila Kihne is Eden Prairie's biggest blogger--a fire breathing, all-knowing Bircher lacking the most minimal rhetorical gift. She's not interested in discussing issues with those unenmeshed in her certitudes, and she's utterly obsessed with race--and her own racial innocence.Kihne sees an America' [...] 
It drizzled a bit as Edina's Fourth of July parade got started. Leading the procession were dozens of military vehicles, some bearing soldiers from WW2 and Korea. The sheer number of obsolete green vehicles felt excessive--it's part of the ongoing national penance for '70s America's [...]
Yesterday a large crowd gathered at Minnesota's capitol to--as the newspaper of record put it--honor those who served in the Vietnam War. The event website describes it similarly: Minnesota Honors Vietnam Era Veterans.But if you attended the event, you'd soon notice that it [...] 
