No Posting Until Friday Morning

It's a very short week between Memorial Day and the GOP State Convention. In between I'm focusing heavily on work. I'll put up a couple of posts Friday and Saturday with thoughts from the convention. Thanks!

Memorial Day Movies

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is running their 4th annual Memorial Day Marathon featuring war movies from 6 decades. As always on TCM the movies are shown uninterupted. There are some great movies on the list such as Sergeant York, From Here to Eternity, Bridge Over the River Kwai, They Were Expendable, and Hell is for Heroes. For a complete listing of movies and times click here.

For those with kids, these movies offer an opportunity to teach them about the holiday, the heroism and the values that make our lives as we know them possible.

American Movie Classics (AMCtv.com) starts their marathon at noon on Saturday. The movies aren't commercial free and the selection isn't as vast but they have a few good ones too.

A&E is running their made for TV movie "Ike: Countdown to D-Day", which I thought was quite good.

A Trivia Daily Double

I made it to Keegan's for both rounds of trivia last night. Thanks to some help from Surfergrrl, who comments frequently on Water Cooler Wisdom, and to my friend Molly Malone's knowledge of all things People Magazine we were able to win both rounds of trivia. Surfergrrl couldn't stay for round two, so my friend Lee and Buddha Patriot joined and contributed to the victory.

UPDATE: ...and the Frater's gang is bitter about it

Violent Crime Hits Very Close to Home

Crime is always bad, but when the victim is a child or an elderly person, there is something especially repulsive about the act. Minneapolis' finest crime reporter, Rambix has the story of two thugs who took advantage of the innocence of an elderly man by busting into his home, knocking him around, tying him up and robbing him...

Two blocks from my house.

Read the whole thing, including the comments.

A 73-year-old man is recovering after being tied up and robbed in his
own home.

The incident happened at around 1 a.m. Wednesday at the man’s home on 34 th and Johnson St. NE.The man, who requests to remain anonymous, says two men knocked on his front door and told him they needed help after being in a car accident.

The man says the two suspects punched him, threw him to the floor and tied him up.

The suspects fled with the keys to the victim’s SUV, a red, 2004
Chevrolet Blazer with four doors and the Minnesota license plate LNW
692.

Rambix adds some great analysis...

People who love criminals, like columnist Ruben Rosario and to a lesser extent Doug Grow of the Red Star don't consider the true victims. In their eyes, the criminal is a victim; a byproduct of racism, elitism, intolerance, lack of diversity, lack of opportunity, the evil white man, ad nauseum.

In my view criminals are in many cases sociopathic, in nearly all cases narcissistic, and in a preponderance of cases depraved. They are coddled by the "system", given too many chances, and too often don't learn their lessons. And liberal columnists like the two aforementioned are part of the problem, not the solution.

This is a very nice "upper NE" Minneapolis neighborhood. Crimes like these were an extreme rarity, if not non-existent, until recent years.

When will the citizens of Minneapolis wake up and realize that they are insane by Einstein's definition -- repeating the same behavior over and over and expecting different results. It will take real change in the mayor's office, in the state legislature, in the county attorneys office, in judges, in the city council. We will not get there by simply changing from one group of liberals and socialists to another.

I spoke with the shopkeeper at my corner store this morning. He said this victim's daughter was in his shop yesterday. She told him the victim is understandably very shook up, but he's doing ok. I hope the next time we see the two slimeballs who did this, they will be in handcuffs.

The Hardest Working Blogger In the M.O.B.

James Brown used to carry the title "The Hardest Working Man In Show Business".

I'm nominating Andy Aplikowski (AAA) of Residual Forces, Bachmann v. Wetterling and KvM for the title of "The Hardest Working Blogger In The M.O.B."

AAA - You are on fire lately!

Michigan Department of Education Bans America

This is one of those stories that fall into the category of so ridiculous that it must be a gag. Sadly, that is not the case. The editorial from which the following excerpts were taken appeared in yesterday's Detroit News. Thank goodness there are people like the author, Mr. Warren (a Circuit Court Judge and former member of the State Board of Education) for bringing this story to the public forefront...

Censoring the word "America" from our own schools is something Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden would never have thought possible. Michigan has done it without a whimper.

In perhaps a well-intentioned, but pernicious example of political correctness, the Michigan Department of Education is attempting to ban the "America" and "American" from our public schools. Even though the word "America" appears in the department's own civics and government benchmarks, the department's style protocol for the Michigan Education Assessment Program requires that "America" and "Americans" be expunged from our testing and grade level expectations. Last week, the department ordered that our hard-working teachers not utter the words.

We're all 'North Americans'
The Department of Education asserts that "Americans" includes Mexicans, Canadians and others in the Western Hemisphere, so referring to U.S. residents as Americans is inappropriate. In the department's view, "America" happens to include South, Central and North America. Accordingly, when referring to the colonial period, the state bureaucracy requires teachers to refer to "the colonies of North America" or "North Americans." After the American Revolution, the nation is called the United States (not of America).

One can only imagine how teachers struggle to meet the semantic dictates of an educational bureaucracy gone awry. According to the department, before the American Revolution, George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were North Americans. But so were the French colonists in the Louisiana Territory, the Spanish settlers in Mexico and the British colonists in Canada -- not to mention the Native Americans.

No 'American' Revolution?
After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers no longer qualified as North Americans, but apparently the British, Spanish, French and Native Americans did. What people in the United States are to be called after the Revolution is not clear, so long as they are not referred to as Americans.

Although the style protocol does not require educators to change formal titles such as "America the Beautiful," the students will apparently now believe the song is about a hemisphere and not a nation. The American Revolution is now the North American Revolution. Little did the writers of the Contract with America in 1994 realize that they were making an agreement with Mexico and Canada. The Voice of America obviously is broadcasting the inspirational messages of Brazil and Belize across the globe.

'Internationally friendly'
The Michigan Department of Education considers the dictate "internationally friendly." Why being friendly to an international audience or perspective is important in teaching and learning American history is incomprehensible.

In another portion of the article Mr. Warren states "Instead of focusing on better teaching methods and educational resources to help our hard-working teachers and parents, the Department of Education spends its energy on confusing, misleading, historically inaccurate and counterproductive wordplay."

My father was a teacher for over 30 years. Twenty years or twenty-five years ago I remember him frequently stating his disgust with the NEA. He would say, "They don't care about the kids, heck they don't even care that much about the teachers, what they care about is indoctrination -- socialist indoctrination -- not education." He was dead on, and since then, the NEA, education departments and school boards have only become worse.

World Cup May Be Dangerous To Your Health

In advance of this year's World Cup, health experts are issuing a warning. The event may be dangerous to Europeans' health and not just from the usual soccer hooliganism and riots...

Health experts are warning that some games in the World Cup finals could be quite literally heart-stopping.

Cardiac arrests, wife-beating, binge boozing, smoking, even suicide - all of these phenomena surge during the world's most-watched sporting contest.

In the 1998 World Cup, the number of heart attacks in Britain rose by 25% when England lost to Argentina in a penalty shootout. According to a study in the British Medical Journal - compared with admissions for the same day in previous years - 55 more people were treated for a heart stoppage.

It even goes as far to suggest it might be advisable "on public health grounds" to scrap shootouts altogether.

Another study, carried out in the Netherlands, found there were an extra 14 male deaths, an increase of 50%, on the day when the Dutch team were knocked out of the European championships by France in 1996.

I Can't Believe She Did That

Remember when you were a teenager and your parents would do or say something that totally embarrassed you? It used to happen to me often. Then as I got older and started raising my own son, I realized how wise my parents were and how minor those embarassing things really were relative to all of the positive things they did for me. It's very rare that my mother or father does anything that embarasses me now, but yesterday it happened.

My mom follows politics closely, and like most Americans, is very passionate about the immigration issue. A few days ago she had an epiphany. One of those simple, economical solutions that tend to come from those of her generation.

Mom's big idea came from connecting two dots. Mom thought..."hmm, Florida has an alligator problem...Texas has a border security problem...let's kill two birds with one stone. Round up thousands of alligators and stock the Rio Grande." Beautiful in it's simplicity, but totally unworkable politically.

It's not the idea that bothered me, well yeah actually it did, but that's not the worst of it. Granted, mom was clearly trying to solve problems and make lemonade out of lemons, and her thinking was DEFINITELY outside the box. The embarrassment came from the fact that she was so proud of her revelation that she called her U.S. Congressman, Gil Gutknecht's office to suggest the idea.

I asked her about their reaction. She said the lady was very nice and said she would pass it on. Mom calls Representative Gutknecht's office a few times a year. I hope they still take her seriously, because usually she is calling with more relevant and important suggestions.

On the other hand, if you do see an alligator amendment attached to the immigration bill, you'll know where it came from.

FTC - Oil Companies Did Not Manipulate Prices After Katrina

Government says no evidence companies withheld supply, but does find instances of localized price gouging.

An investigation by U.S. antitrust authorities found no evidence that oil companies illegally manipulated gasoline prices or constrained oil refining operations, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday.

However, the agency said it had found 15 examples that fit lawmakers' definition of price-gouging at the "refining, wholesale, or retail level." It said factors like regional and local market trends appeared to explain the pricing in nearly all the cases.

So the price went up due to "regional and local market trends". In other words, the price was impacted primarily by increased demand and reduced supply. Sadly, this is a novel concept to some.

Best Headline Ever

The NY Post is famous for it's catchy and extreme headlines. I haven't been able to find a picture of it on the internet, but they outdid themselves this weekend with the headline regarding Barry Bonds tying Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list...

The front page was simply the numbers 7-1-4 written out in syringes.

If anyone can find a photo of the front page, please leave a link to it in the comments section.

$139 Million Minneapolis Library Opens

The next time a socialist DFL'er tries to blame Pawlenty for high property taxes point out this story...

"I'm just floored by the architectural structure, " visitor Monique Thompson said. "Coming in, it's massive. This has got to be a world-class library now."It's impressive, but still inviting. There are fireplaces on every floor, along with plenty of places to curl up with a good book.

There are hundreds of available computers, a resource center for immigrants, meeting places and performance spaces.

The children's library drew a huge crowd. Kids were rewarded with complimentary tote bags when they checked out books. Many young patrons were glued to computer screens as they tried out new games.

Books remained a big attraction for avid readers such as Destiny Edwards, 9.

At least they didn't completely forget about the books amidst the fireplaces, resource centers, performance spaces and video game stations.

In fairness to the local government, they just proposed the massive library project. The voters approved the large property tax increase in a referendum. If I remember, the referendum was marketed something like "Do you support funding new public libraries or do you hate children?"

The mantra of "Governor Pawlenty raised property taxes" will be chanted over and over by the DFL throughout the 2006 campaign season. Don't buy into it. Property taxes are controlled at the local level. Massive projects like this are why Minneapolis property taxes are increasing at double digit rates. The library alone cost an estimated $805 per Minneapolis household.

When someone asks why can't we put more cops on the street to get pedarists off them, don't point to the Governor. Instead, point to the Minneapolis public library and say, "because instead we built a state-of-the-art facility where they can surf p##n for free.

Off Hiatus

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted. I was on a roll, but then got steamrolled by a combination of a very intense work project and a couple of home projects. I was also doing some business travelling, during which I always disconnect from the on-line world. The project went well (not a home run, but a solid shot to the gap), and my bedroom now has a complete make-over.

It's unfortunate I couldn't post more. There were plenty of opportunities to take shots at Senators Pogemiller, Kelly, et al. for their manipulative attempts to completely screw the taxpayers via stadium legislation.

It's going to be another busy month, but I will at least have time to get in 4 or 5 posts a week. Thanks!

Catching Up #2 - Sandy Burt Fundraiser

Friday morning I went to a fundraiser for Sandy Burt, featuring Governor Pawlenty. Since the Governor was speaking to an urban group the governor's speech focused primarily on public safety and education. His speech was brief and very light and conversational, with several questions and answers.

Governor Pawlenty hit on a few key points that tied in nicely with Sandy's platform. Particularly, school choice, a focus on language issues that urban schools face and stressing the importance of math and science. He acknowledged that it isn't a money issue and also that there is no quick fix. To really fix some of the problems like a nearly 50% drop-out rate, it will take cultural changes, not just education policy changes.

Sandy was wonderful. She's so humble that she's still a little uncomfortable in front of an audience, but her sincerity and warmth easily overcome that.

The event went well, the turnout was not stellar, but pretty good for a Friday morning (about 35+). Everyone had a good time and left the room very enthusiastic about our candidate, which is the most important thing of all.

A big thanks to the Governor for getting out in the city and helping generate some momentum.

Catching Up #1 - NE Watch

I was still digging out of my work until early this morning, so I'm finally getting to the update on the NE Citizen's Patrol meeting. The meeting was a way to bring awareness and recruit volunteers for the NE Citizen's Patrol as well as to kick of the formation of the Minneapolis chapter of the Guardian Angels. I signed up for doing some neighborhood walks for the NECP, but couldn't committ to the time requirements for the Guardian Angels.

The Guardian Angels go through a 3 month training program, which includes self-defense training, first-aid training, and training on honing observation skills. Because of this they would prefer a few nights a month from their volunteers.

I was highly impressed with the professionalism and experience of the Denver chapter members who will be coordinating the initial training. I was pleased to find out that a friend who is a retired Marine and one of our delegates was a Guardian Angel back in the 1980's. He will be helping John Schulte and the Denver GA's with the start up.

There were about 130 concerned citizens at the meeting -- way more that I would have expected. I think some were there just to vent their frustration with the rising criminal activity. Some were there to just get more information, but most were there to find out how they could get involved and help. The majority signed up to take watch shifts in their neighborhood. About 25 or so signed up to be Guardian Angels, which considering the time committment is pretty good.

There was one gentleman in an NRA hat who ended up storming off in frustration. He thought the whole idea of being on the street unarmed while the gangs have guns was a bad idea. A good point, the Guardian Angels aren't vigilantes. There job is to be visible eyes and ears on the street as a deterent. They have no interest in becoming another gang. With the exception of this gentleman, everyone else was very supportive and excited.

The meeting was a Columbia Grounds on 33rd and Central. Even though it's only 6 or 7 blocks from my house I had never been there. It is a fantastic coffee shop with a wonderful garden/patio area, complete with waterfall. I will be going back. I also want to acknowledge and thank John Shulte for getting this all going.

I have a female friend who is going through the training and am involved now in the NECP, so I will keep you posted on Guardian Angel events and progress.