HometownSource Blogs

Our Forest Lake Times editor Cliff Buchan is not blogging quite yet but passed on a piece from one of our Times readers that is surely a blog item.

It is penned by Derek Rushlow of Columbus, now a city and not a township. Derek tells about his involvement in a TV show. He was an extra on One Tree Hill.

I am not familiar with the show but all of us can wish that we could relate to an opportunity to be on our favorite TV show. Here’s what Derek has to say.

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Here’s a band I really didn’t care for until I went and saw them live last week. A bunch of my friends kept telling me over and over again how great they were. I tried a couple of times to get into them, but it never really sunk in. Most of the descriptions I heard of their style were along the lines of “Eastern European” or “Gypsy Music” and from looking at their name that’s what you’d expect as well. When I’d listen I’d hear subtle hints of it, but I wouldn’t really consider their music Eastern European.

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In regard to recent posts on Rep. Mindy Greiling’s strong-arm tactics against Katherine Kersten, dwp4401 writes:

At the present time, the Department of Education is investigating the allegations against this school. Greiling has now issued a not so veiled threat. Her committee controls the Department’s budget and they are now on notice that the Chair will brook no change of the status quo at this school.

Greiling herself seemed to confirm that view in an interview with Minnesota Monitor:

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Scott Johnson is, and the journalism community should be, very concerned with Rep. Mindy Greiling’s irresponsible letter to the Star Tribune, in which she accused columnist Katherine Kersten of being “reckless,” and for writing a “gross distortion of the facts” that put children’s lives at risk. Based on those assertions, Greiling encouraged the Strib to ask for Kersten’s resignation.

Johnson lays out a list of 19 disturbing facts reported by Kersten, as well as observations of TIZA by a substitute teacher through Kersten, none of which were disputed by Greiling. He concludes by saying, “Under the circumstances, her letter is an abuse of her legislative position. Rep. Greiling should demonstrate Kersten’s “gross distortion of facts” or should resign herself.”

These clear cut cases of abusing one’s position have become “politics as usual,” and will therefore likely pass with little note. But voters, and journalists, should take note that Greiling has no problem calling for someone to lose their very livelihood based on nothing more than her dissatisfaction with the subject matter.

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I just don’t see the point.

I mean, I know we’re talking about swords here, but kicking two kids out of school for the rest of the year for purchasing a couple of souvenir swords on a choir trip in England seems like overkill.

The District 196 School Board can’t elaborate publicly on the expulsions, but their hands aren’t exactly tied on the matter. They could have chosen to make their expulsion decision based on common sense and a little compassionate leniency instead of following the district’s policy so strictly. Read more »

According to the Tax Foundation, Minnesota has the third-highest corporate tax burden in the known universe, 41.4 percent. That’s higher than all but Pennsylvania and Iowa in the U.S., and significantly higher than more socialist nations like Germany, France, and Canada.

It’s an outrage! Call your representative today and insist that Minnesota’s corporate “citizens” start doing their fair share!

Despite providing zero evidence that anything Katherine Kersten wrote about TIZA was in error, Rep. Mindy Greiling is a-okay with calling for her ouster at the Star Tribune. Far less surprising is the Star Tribune’s willingness to run such a letter, extremely short on substance but long on personal attacks, as long as the target is a conservative (even one of their own).

Scott Johnson sums it up nicely:

The Star Tribune provides a sad illustration of how a newspaper can become a corrosive force on the political and civic life of the community it serves. The financial difficulties of the Star Tribune prompt the thought that the Twin Cities and the state of Minnesota would be improved by the paper’s demise.

And certainly not for the first time. While the Strib’s deep-seated and overwhelming bias is well documented and, at this point, essentially a punch line, I am more than surprised that Greiling would start throwing weight around, calling for journalists’ resignations, with little more in her corner than the fact that she visited TIZA and it seemed okay to her.

May brings flowers, long walks in the park and a good game of Frisbee golf, a.k.a. “frolfing.”
It brings the first smells of barbecue, excitement for farmer’s markets and the chance to sip coffee outside of cafes.
If you can’t tell, sunshine in my face and a warm breeze are some of my favorite things, and because of that I’m taking the time for a little PSA and letting everyone know May is also National Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention month.

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Never one to miss an opportunity to gain politically from a tragedy, the Goracle yesterday blamed the Myanmar cyclone on global climate warming change:

…we’re seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming.

“Predicted.” “Might be associated.” In Al Gore’s world, even the vaguest and insupportable link is enough to reach for the panic button. And what, pray tell, is global warming doing to cause the wrath of Gaia? This:

Gore claimed global warming is forcing ocean temperatures to rise, which is causing storms, including cyclones and hurricanes, to intensify.

Er…except the oceans have been cooling for the last five years. Those pesky facts, always getting in the way of a perfectly good line of bull.

In this season of high gas prices and finger-pointing, the Tax Policy Blog notes that - since 1981 and the passage of the Windfall Profits Tax - government has made more off of oil than…well…oil companies. The cumulative total is: government - $1.65 trillion, oil companies - $1.12 trillion. Here’s a summary (graph at link):

…during most of that 25 year period, government tax collections were nearly twice industry profits in any given year. Indeed, in 2002, before the recent price spikes, the industry earned a collective $20.5 billion in profits. However, government collected more than $50 billion in combined income, property, severance, and excise taxes in the same year.

If Congress really wants to grill those which gain the most from oil profits, it need look no further than its own chambers.

Newsweek’s Robert Samuelson finds another problem with the scenario:

Members of Congress complain loudly about high oil profits ($40.6 billion for ExxonMobil last year) but frustrate those companies from using those profits to explore and produce in the United States.

Instead of demonizing oil companies even while reaping massive monetary benefit from their labor, wouldn’t we be better served encouraging them to re-invest in the things that will keep energy affordable?

After my last somewhat depressing when you really think about it entry about the rising cost of life, I couldn’t help but sarcastically chuckle to myself when I came across Mukesh Ambani’s plans for his family’s 60-story home.
That’s right. Not six stories, which would still be more than ridiculous. Nope, 60 stories with 27 different floors.

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Minnesota Monitor, ground zero for the local Sorosphere and another entity that would be shrieking were Franken a Republican, instead goes after the source of the story, Michael Brodkarb. It’s line of attack is exceptionally disingenuous given past stonewalling about its own funding sources. It’s also humorous to note that the piece required a correction due to the author’s failure to read an AP story closely.

Nevertheless, MinMon will continue to insist Brodkorb is lying about being “paid to blog” currently, prompting this question at True North:

I have a question for the Monitor: Given the reputation as a giant-killer that Michael Brodkorb has built up, and the fact that he is not a dumb guy, and that he’s got a city full of leftybloggers and DFL opposition researchers scurrying about like cockroaches on amyl, looking for that magic link that’d discredit him, does anyone rationally think that Brodkorb - who claims not to earn his living from politics today - would risk all of that by trying to lie about his income?

Y’know - like the Monitor did?

Heh.

Suddenly Lars and the gang are all about file sharing? Apparently so in this recent interview with Rolling Stone.

“We have FLACs and MP3s for sale. It was never about downloading per se.”

These guys are a complete joke, I think I got my last Metallica CD when I was in I wanna say 6th grade. Since then I think it’s safe to say that they have been regurgitating the same old garbage again and again and again. I think it’s safe to say these guys are right up there with the major label record companies when it comes to doing more to hinder the sales of downloadable media then they’ve ever done to help it.

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Lawmakers are rushing to defend Al Franken. Here’s some highlights:

…now that it’s been vetted out — he took responsibility quickly, didn’t hide behind the, ‘I didn’t understand,’” she [Rep. Shelley Madore] said.

No, he hid behind the “it’s my accountant’s fault” excuse, and he only took responsibility after he was exposed by the evil right wing screeching squad.

“What it points out to me is how well someone can take care of problems when they come up,” said [Rep. Tom] Tillberry.

Well, this isn’t the first time it has come up. Just ask New York. By “come up” Tillberry seems to be alluding to when the problem finally gets public scrutiny. Read more »

I feel for John and Judy McEachran.

The Inver Grove Heights couple faced a $67,000 assessment from Dakota County for soils cleanup regarding asbestos-containing materials uncovered on their townhome property during excavation work that began in 2004.

Apparently, their property was where old bridges went to die. Read more »