September 2005 - RAIN AND FIRE - The New Yorker
"Movie screenings in private theatres for invited audiences, with drinks, canapés, and opportunities to schmooze with stars and directors, are a favorite tactic of the Manhattan branches of Hollywood’s publicity machines..."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - Bracing for a costly winter
"A feared 30 percent increase in natural gas costs in St. Paul schools this year is the same amount needed for the salaries and benefits of 16 teachers or for 25 custodians..."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - Roberts takes oath as 17th chief justice
"John Glover Roberts Jr. was sworn in Thursday as the 17th chief justice of the United States, enabling President Bush to put his stamp on the nine-member Supreme Court for decades to come even as he prepares to name a second nominee..."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - Editorial: Kathleen Blatz has served this state well
"I've always loved two things," Kathleen Blatz, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, said in 2003, "public service and law."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - The Wrong-Way Congress
"The indictment of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, should have been an opportunity for Republicans to show the nation that they are ready to turn the page on the abuses of big-money politics and lobbyist pandering. At a minimum, you'd think the party would want to demonstrate that it had moved beyond Mr. DeLay's philosophy that Congress should feel free to break the bank with out-of-control spending and tax cuts for the wealthy as long as it made G.O.P. contributors happy..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Frists' HCA Now Under Investigation by SEC
"The SEC is investigating HCA Inc., the hospital chain founded by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's family, the company said Thursday..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Losing faith in the electoral system
"Here's a little quiz for the American public, the half that votes, anyway: Were you worried that your vote in the last election was counted incorrectly, especially if you used an electronic machine that issued no receipts?..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - DeLay indicted, steps down as majority leader
"Rep. Tom DeLay stepped aside Wednesday as House majority leader after a Texas grand jury indicted him on a conspiracy charge stemming from a long-running campaign finance investigation..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Roberts Takes Oath As Chief Justice
"John G. Roberts Jr., a conservative protege of the late William H. Rehnquist, succeeded him Thursday and became the nation's youngest chief justice in two centuries, winning support from more than three-fourths of the Senate after promising he would be no ideologue..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Editorial: Species-saving law under attack
"U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo has an unusual sense of humor. Recently the California Republican drafted legislation to balance a sector of the federal budget by selling off 15 national parks..."
Read More...
September 28, 2005 - Minnesota becomes first US state to require biodiesel
"Minnesota will from Thursday demand that all diesel fuel sold in the US state be partly distilled from soybeans in a bid to take a bite out of the nation's appetite for crude oil. .."
Read More...
September 28, 2005 - Referendum is good for our community
"This fall, each of us will be asked to vote on a referendum which would raise $9 million dollars for the acquisition of open space in rural and urban areas and for the development of athletic fields..."
Read More...
September 28, 2005 - Funding schools/State action added to tax hike
"In coming weeks Minnesota homeowners will receive their 2006 property tax statements -- complete with hefty increases to fund public education. In fact, state education officials estimate that the school portion of the property tax burden will rise about 18 to 20 percent from last year..."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Will storms jolt Congress into financial sanity?
"Listening to lawmakers call for spending cuts to finance rebuilding along the Gulf Coast brings to mind the famous scene of hypocrisy in Casablanca. Lacking a better pretext for closing Rick's Café, the corruptible Capt. Renault declares: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" Just then a café employee hands him a bag and says, "Your winnings, sir."..."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Education gap swallowing up equality of opportunity
"Especially in these days after Katrina, everybody laments poverty and inequality. But what are you doing about it? For example, let's say you work at a university or a college. You are a cog in the one of the great inequality producing machines America has known. What are you doing to change that?.."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Pawlenty friend quits campaign after ruling on mortgage business
"The campaign treasurer for Gov. Tim Pawlenty resigned Monday after a ruling that a company he ran "misled and deceived" homeowners in a mortgage refinancing scheme..."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Editorial: Student aid outlook bleak in Congress
"Minnesota's public and private colleges and universities sometimes behave like rivals at the State Capitol. But they're in concert with our view of the higher-ed lawmaking that's in progress this year at the nation's Capitol: It's disappointing. .."
Read More...
September 26, 2005 - Editorial: Child care/Cuts in state aid hurt the poor
"It's a choice between evils for too many low-income families. With fewer state child-care dollars available, many parents are forced either to accept low-quality, cheaper child care or to leave their children alone -- or with siblings who are too young to baby-sit..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Heat bills threaten school budgets
"North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school officials wanted to use most of its $1.95 million in new state money this year to plug an anticipated budget deficit..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Freedom is neither free nor borrowed
"While I have consistently opposed the Bush administration's Iraq policy and the borrow-and-spend agenda of the Republican Congress, America's obligations and responsibilities must be paid for. Hurricane victims, our troops, working families and future generations deserve action and fiscal responsibility from policy-makers, not gimmicks and games..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Tens of thousands join in one voice: Get out of Iraq
"Tens of thousands of Americans who oppose the war in Iraq marched on the nation's capital Saturday through a gray drizzle, led by a mix of newcomers and established figures from the Vietnam and civil rights movements..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Rohan Preston: The Barbara Bush Blues
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September 25, 2005 - Editorial: B-minus/Where's competitive spirit?
"The metropolitan region got a report card last week. We're doing OK for now. But other classes in school are getting smarter faster. To improve our grades the teacher suggests that we "learn how to play better together" and "actually do class projects rather than just complain about them.".."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - Editorial: Arctic ice/Shrinking, with consequences
"As public conversation about global warming has centered for several weeks on its possible role in a dreadful hurricane season, climate scientists have been tracking a much clearer and more alarming impact..."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - State fines Pawlenty campaign treasurer
"The Minnesota Commerce Department on Friday barred the campaign treasurer for Gov. Tim Pawlenty from engaging in residential mortgage work and fined his firm $10,000 after a judge concluded that he and a partner used "deceptive practices demonstrating untrustworthiness."..."
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September 24, 2005 - Well pollutant level increases
"The level of trichloroethylene, or TCE, in one of Bayport's three wells has gone up since August, according to tests done to detect the contaminant..."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - Seniors, get ready for drug plan ad blitz
"An election-style blitz of television commercials, billboards, direct mailings, newspaper ads, bus tours and town hall meetings is coming Oct. 1 when health insurers across the nation begin competing for senior citizens to buy their Medicare prescription drug plans..."
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September 23, 2005 - Voting Reform Is in the Cards
"WE agreed to lead the Commission on Federal Election Reform because of our shared concern that too many Americans lack confidence in the electoral process, and because members of Congress are divided on the issue and busy with other matters..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - More evidence from the Fed that education matters
"With school back in session and the weather generally still pleasant, many students are probably inclined to daydream out the window and wonder why they're inside on such a beautiful day. They need look no further than the September 2005 edition of The Region, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank's quarterly publication, for the answer. It's the money — future earnings, more precisely..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - Antiwar rally draws many from Minnesota
"Kelly Fitzgerald of Minneapolis felt so devastated when her son was deployed to Iraq in January that she needed to rely on other people's strength to get through it. But after attending a peace vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan, Fitzgerald said, she began to feel a change..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - Union leaders to fight tax cuts
"Labor leaders said Thursday they would work to defeat any efforts to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast by cutting important federal programs..."
Read More...
September 22, 2005 - Nursing care lax at vets home
"A lack of nursing care at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis was the underlying cause of the home's miserable showing in a recent state inspection..."
Read More...
September 22, 2005 - Asking the wrong questions
"The senators grilling Supreme Court nominee John Roberts asked him so many questions about abortion, a subject on which the Constitution is silent, that they had no time to ask him about the right to due process. That's a shame, because due process is under assault by a president who claims the authority to lock up anyone he deems an "enemy combatant" until the end of the war on terrorism, which seems likely to outlast Roberts' tenure as chief justice..."
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September 22, 2005 - DFL's Kelly Doran to run for governor
"After struggling to establish himself in the crowded DFL U.S. Senate field, real estate developer Kelly Doran ended his nearly four-month-old Senate bid Wednesday and announced his candidacy for governor..."
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September 22, 2005 - Property tax forecast: 12% hike in 2006
"Minnesota homeowners face potentially bruising property tax bills next year, according to state experts who are forecasting an average increase of nearly 12 percent in 2006..."
Read More...
September 21, 2005 - City gets 3M grant for water and tower
"Lake Elmohas accepted a $3.3 million grant from 3M Co. that will pay for public water extensions to two neighborhoods where contaminated water was detected in more than a dozen private wells earlier this year..."
Read More...
September 21, 2005 - St. Paul schools OK 22% levy hike
"The St. Paul school board on Tuesday approved a 22 percent increase in the school district's levy -- that's the money collected from property taxes -- for the 2006-07 school year, the maximum allowed by the state. But board members were quick to say that much of the increase is due to powers outside their control..."
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September 21, 2005 - Doran may switch to governor's race
"Kelly Doran is dropping out of the Minnesota Senate race to run for governor, a high-ranking Democrat told the Associated Press on Tuesday..."
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September 21, 2005 - Pawlenty's approval rating: About middlin'
"New surveys put Gov. Tim Pawlenty smack in the middle of the pack among the nation's 50 governors, with a 54 percent approval rating among Minnesotans that may indicate he has rebounded a bit from the recent bruising special legislative session..."
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September 20, 2005 - Bush aide arrested on corruption charges
"The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested Monday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff..."
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September 20, 2005 - State drops in child care rankings
"Low-income families' access to high-quality child care in Minnesota has dropped significantly in the past four years, according to a new report from the National Women's Law Center to be made public today..."
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September 20, 2005 - Denying Access to the Ballot
"It has been clear since 2000 that the election system is in serious need of reform. But the commission led by James Baker III and former President Jimmy Carter has come up with a plan that is worse than no reform at all. Its good ideas are outweighed by one very bad idea: a voter identification requirement that would prevent large numbers of poor, black and elderly people from voting..."
Read More...
September 19, 2005 - Minnesota prisons doing hard time
"At Stillwater and Faribault prisons, corrections workers struggle with a growing inmate population in outdated facilities. A multimillion-dollar initiative is meant to change that..."
Read More...
September 18, 2005 - Automakers haven't delivered the efficiency that's already possible
"A small-town police chief noticed that his new patrol car, a big Ford, didn't seem to be using any gasoline. He drove and drove and the needle still said Full. Figuring the gauge was faulty, he topped off his tank and found he had gotten something like 100 miles per gallon..."
Read More...
September 18, 2005 - Schools set to raise levies, and hackles
"School boards across Minnesota are in the process of setting double-digit property tax increases that were a controversial part of an education-funding plan enacted by lawmakers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty this summer..."
Read More...
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"Movie screenings in private theatres for invited audiences, with drinks, canapés, and opportunities to schmooze with stars and directors, are a favorite tactic of the Manhattan branches of Hollywood’s publicity machines..."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - Bracing for a costly winter
"A feared 30 percent increase in natural gas costs in St. Paul schools this year is the same amount needed for the salaries and benefits of 16 teachers or for 25 custodians..."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - Roberts takes oath as 17th chief justice
"John Glover Roberts Jr. was sworn in Thursday as the 17th chief justice of the United States, enabling President Bush to put his stamp on the nine-member Supreme Court for decades to come even as he prepares to name a second nominee..."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - Editorial: Kathleen Blatz has served this state well
"I've always loved two things," Kathleen Blatz, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, said in 2003, "public service and law."
Read More...
September 30, 2005 - The Wrong-Way Congress
"The indictment of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, should have been an opportunity for Republicans to show the nation that they are ready to turn the page on the abuses of big-money politics and lobbyist pandering. At a minimum, you'd think the party would want to demonstrate that it had moved beyond Mr. DeLay's philosophy that Congress should feel free to break the bank with out-of-control spending and tax cuts for the wealthy as long as it made G.O.P. contributors happy..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Frists' HCA Now Under Investigation by SEC
"The SEC is investigating HCA Inc., the hospital chain founded by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's family, the company said Thursday..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Losing faith in the electoral system
"Here's a little quiz for the American public, the half that votes, anyway: Were you worried that your vote in the last election was counted incorrectly, especially if you used an electronic machine that issued no receipts?..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - DeLay indicted, steps down as majority leader
"Rep. Tom DeLay stepped aside Wednesday as House majority leader after a Texas grand jury indicted him on a conspiracy charge stemming from a long-running campaign finance investigation..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Roberts Takes Oath As Chief Justice
"John G. Roberts Jr., a conservative protege of the late William H. Rehnquist, succeeded him Thursday and became the nation's youngest chief justice in two centuries, winning support from more than three-fourths of the Senate after promising he would be no ideologue..."
Read More...
September 29, 2005 - Editorial: Species-saving law under attack
"U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo has an unusual sense of humor. Recently the California Republican drafted legislation to balance a sector of the federal budget by selling off 15 national parks..."
Read More...
September 28, 2005 - Minnesota becomes first US state to require biodiesel
"Minnesota will from Thursday demand that all diesel fuel sold in the US state be partly distilled from soybeans in a bid to take a bite out of the nation's appetite for crude oil. .."
Read More...
September 28, 2005 - Referendum is good for our community
"This fall, each of us will be asked to vote on a referendum which would raise $9 million dollars for the acquisition of open space in rural and urban areas and for the development of athletic fields..."
Read More...
September 28, 2005 - Funding schools/State action added to tax hike
"In coming weeks Minnesota homeowners will receive their 2006 property tax statements -- complete with hefty increases to fund public education. In fact, state education officials estimate that the school portion of the property tax burden will rise about 18 to 20 percent from last year..."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Will storms jolt Congress into financial sanity?
"Listening to lawmakers call for spending cuts to finance rebuilding along the Gulf Coast brings to mind the famous scene of hypocrisy in Casablanca. Lacking a better pretext for closing Rick's Café, the corruptible Capt. Renault declares: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" Just then a café employee hands him a bag and says, "Your winnings, sir."..."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Education gap swallowing up equality of opportunity
"Especially in these days after Katrina, everybody laments poverty and inequality. But what are you doing about it? For example, let's say you work at a university or a college. You are a cog in the one of the great inequality producing machines America has known. What are you doing to change that?.."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Pawlenty friend quits campaign after ruling on mortgage business
"The campaign treasurer for Gov. Tim Pawlenty resigned Monday after a ruling that a company he ran "misled and deceived" homeowners in a mortgage refinancing scheme..."
Read More...
September 27, 2005 - Editorial: Student aid outlook bleak in Congress
"Minnesota's public and private colleges and universities sometimes behave like rivals at the State Capitol. But they're in concert with our view of the higher-ed lawmaking that's in progress this year at the nation's Capitol: It's disappointing. .."
Read More...
September 26, 2005 - Editorial: Child care/Cuts in state aid hurt the poor
"It's a choice between evils for too many low-income families. With fewer state child-care dollars available, many parents are forced either to accept low-quality, cheaper child care or to leave their children alone -- or with siblings who are too young to baby-sit..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Heat bills threaten school budgets
"North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school officials wanted to use most of its $1.95 million in new state money this year to plug an anticipated budget deficit..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Freedom is neither free nor borrowed
"While I have consistently opposed the Bush administration's Iraq policy and the borrow-and-spend agenda of the Republican Congress, America's obligations and responsibilities must be paid for. Hurricane victims, our troops, working families and future generations deserve action and fiscal responsibility from policy-makers, not gimmicks and games..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Tens of thousands join in one voice: Get out of Iraq
"Tens of thousands of Americans who oppose the war in Iraq marched on the nation's capital Saturday through a gray drizzle, led by a mix of newcomers and established figures from the Vietnam and civil rights movements..."
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Rohan Preston: The Barbara Bush Blues
Read More...
September 25, 2005 - Editorial: B-minus/Where's competitive spirit?
"The metropolitan region got a report card last week. We're doing OK for now. But other classes in school are getting smarter faster. To improve our grades the teacher suggests that we "learn how to play better together" and "actually do class projects rather than just complain about them.".."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - Editorial: Arctic ice/Shrinking, with consequences
"As public conversation about global warming has centered for several weeks on its possible role in a dreadful hurricane season, climate scientists have been tracking a much clearer and more alarming impact..."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - State fines Pawlenty campaign treasurer
"The Minnesota Commerce Department on Friday barred the campaign treasurer for Gov. Tim Pawlenty from engaging in residential mortgage work and fined his firm $10,000 after a judge concluded that he and a partner used "deceptive practices demonstrating untrustworthiness."..."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - Well pollutant level increases
"The level of trichloroethylene, or TCE, in one of Bayport's three wells has gone up since August, according to tests done to detect the contaminant..."
Read More...
September 24, 2005 - Seniors, get ready for drug plan ad blitz
"An election-style blitz of television commercials, billboards, direct mailings, newspaper ads, bus tours and town hall meetings is coming Oct. 1 when health insurers across the nation begin competing for senior citizens to buy their Medicare prescription drug plans..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - Voting Reform Is in the Cards
"WE agreed to lead the Commission on Federal Election Reform because of our shared concern that too many Americans lack confidence in the electoral process, and because members of Congress are divided on the issue and busy with other matters..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - More evidence from the Fed that education matters
"With school back in session and the weather generally still pleasant, many students are probably inclined to daydream out the window and wonder why they're inside on such a beautiful day. They need look no further than the September 2005 edition of The Region, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank's quarterly publication, for the answer. It's the money — future earnings, more precisely..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - Antiwar rally draws many from Minnesota
"Kelly Fitzgerald of Minneapolis felt so devastated when her son was deployed to Iraq in January that she needed to rely on other people's strength to get through it. But after attending a peace vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan, Fitzgerald said, she began to feel a change..."
Read More...
September 23, 2005 - Union leaders to fight tax cuts
"Labor leaders said Thursday they would work to defeat any efforts to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast by cutting important federal programs..."
Read More...
September 22, 2005 - Nursing care lax at vets home
"A lack of nursing care at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis was the underlying cause of the home's miserable showing in a recent state inspection..."
Read More...
September 22, 2005 - Asking the wrong questions
"The senators grilling Supreme Court nominee John Roberts asked him so many questions about abortion, a subject on which the Constitution is silent, that they had no time to ask him about the right to due process. That's a shame, because due process is under assault by a president who claims the authority to lock up anyone he deems an "enemy combatant" until the end of the war on terrorism, which seems likely to outlast Roberts' tenure as chief justice..."
Read More...
September 22, 2005 - DFL's Kelly Doran to run for governor
"After struggling to establish himself in the crowded DFL U.S. Senate field, real estate developer Kelly Doran ended his nearly four-month-old Senate bid Wednesday and announced his candidacy for governor..."
Read More...
September 22, 2005 - Property tax forecast: 12% hike in 2006
"Minnesota homeowners face potentially bruising property tax bills next year, according to state experts who are forecasting an average increase of nearly 12 percent in 2006..."
Read More...
September 21, 2005 - City gets 3M grant for water and tower
"Lake Elmohas accepted a $3.3 million grant from 3M Co. that will pay for public water extensions to two neighborhoods where contaminated water was detected in more than a dozen private wells earlier this year..."
Read More...
September 21, 2005 - St. Paul schools OK 22% levy hike
"The St. Paul school board on Tuesday approved a 22 percent increase in the school district's levy -- that's the money collected from property taxes -- for the 2006-07 school year, the maximum allowed by the state. But board members were quick to say that much of the increase is due to powers outside their control..."
Read More...
September 21, 2005 - Doran may switch to governor's race
"Kelly Doran is dropping out of the Minnesota Senate race to run for governor, a high-ranking Democrat told the Associated Press on Tuesday..."
Read More...
September 21, 2005 - Pawlenty's approval rating: About middlin'
"New surveys put Gov. Tim Pawlenty smack in the middle of the pack among the nation's 50 governors, with a 54 percent approval rating among Minnesotans that may indicate he has rebounded a bit from the recent bruising special legislative session..."
Read More...
September 20, 2005 - Bush aide arrested on corruption charges
"The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested Monday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff..."
Read More...
September 20, 2005 - State drops in child care rankings
"Low-income families' access to high-quality child care in Minnesota has dropped significantly in the past four years, according to a new report from the National Women's Law Center to be made public today..."
Read More...
September 20, 2005 - Denying Access to the Ballot
"It has been clear since 2000 that the election system is in serious need of reform. But the commission led by James Baker III and former President Jimmy Carter has come up with a plan that is worse than no reform at all. Its good ideas are outweighed by one very bad idea: a voter identification requirement that would prevent large numbers of poor, black and elderly people from voting..."
Read More...
September 19, 2005 - Minnesota prisons doing hard time
"At Stillwater and Faribault prisons, corrections workers struggle with a growing inmate population in outdated facilities. A multimillion-dollar initiative is meant to change that..."
Read More...
September 18, 2005 - Automakers haven't delivered the efficiency that's already possible
"A small-town police chief noticed that his new patrol car, a big Ford, didn't seem to be using any gasoline. He drove and drove and the needle still said Full. Figuring the gauge was faulty, he topped off his tank and found he had gotten something like 100 miles per gallon..."
Read More...
September 18, 2005 - Schools set to raise levies, and hackles
"School boards across Minnesota are in the process of setting double-digit property tax increases that were a controversial part of an education-funding plan enacted by lawmakers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty this summer..."
Read More...
September 16, 2005 - Not the New Deal
"Now it begins: America's biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren't good. It's a given that the Bush administration, which tried to turn Iraq into a laboratory for conservative economic policies, will try the same thing on the Gulf Coast. The Heritage Foundation, which has surely been helping Karl Rove develop the administration's recovery plan, has already published a manifesto on post-Katrina policy..."
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September 15, 2005 - Rumblings of discontent among American conservatives
"Under the editorship of Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard has become one of the most consistently rewarding political journals. It is a place you can go for a predictably conservative view on certain issues, from the wisdom of the U.S. intervention in Iraq to sustaining the life of Terri Schiavo. But it is also on occasion a portal for the debates that are roiling the governing majority..."
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September 15, 2005 - Hard fight ahead in St. Paul mayor's race
"During St. Paul mayoral candidate Chris Coleman's primary victory party Tuesday night, his wife pulled their eighth-grade daughter aside to say: It's great to be happy about your dad's triumph, but prepare yourself because "people can say mean things, especially if they're desperate in a campaign."..."
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September 15, 2005 - John Gunyou: More than a commission, people deserve an apology
"In my first year at the Air Force Academy, we were permitted only three responses to a question from an upperclassman: Yes sir, no sir, and no excuse sir. We were not permitted to qualify our answers, nor to offer excuses. Cadet, did you finish cleaning the barracks? No sir. Why not? No excuse sir. Either you did it or you did not. And if you failed in your duties, there were no excuses."
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September 14, 2005 - Time for a Presidential Intervention: "My Name is George, and I Won't Take Responsibility for Anything"
"I spent some time this weekend with a friend of mine who has just taken the first big step toward recovery by joining AA, and was struck by his determination to follow that program's 12 steps..."
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September 14, 2005 - Estate tax foes push limits of selfishness
" devastating hurricane hits the Gulf Coast. The war in Iraq claims almost 1,900 American lives with no end in sight in both casualties and cost. And red ink flows through short- and long-term federal deficit projections. Yet in the coming weeks, congressional leaders will move to abolish permanently the estate tax, America's only levy on concentrations of inherited wealth..."
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September 14, 2005 - St. Paul primary: Coleman tops Kelly 52%-27%
"St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly could be in for the fight of his political life after receiving barely half as many votes as former City Council Member Chris Coleman in Tuesday's primary..."
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September 13, 2005 - Meet the Fakers
"The biggest gathering of leaders in history unfolds this week at the United Nations, as they preen and boast about how much they're helping the world's poor. In short, it may be the greatest assembly in history - of hypocrites..."
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September 13, 2005 - Judge frees churches from gun law
"A church may ban guns from its entire property despite the law passed earlier this year that allows Minnesotans to carry a weapon in public, a Hennepin County District Court judge has ruled..."
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September 13, 2005 - Concealed carry bill is based on myths
"State Sen. Dave Zien is introducing another concealed weapons bill, the purpose of which is to encourage people to carry loaded handguns in public places..."
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September 12, 2005 - Georgia's New Poll Tax
"In 1966, the Supreme Court held that the poll tax was unconstitutional. Nearly 40 years later, Georgia is still charging people to vote, this time with a new voter ID law that requires many people without driver's licenses - a group that is disproportionately poor, black and elderly - to pay $20 or more for a state ID card..."
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September 11, 2005 - Lawyer Is Fired After Talking About Rove
"A lawyer with the Texas secretary of state was fired after she spoke to a reporter about presidential adviser Karl Rove's eligibility to vote in the state..."
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September 11, 2005 - BY THE NUMBERS
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September 11, 2005 - Thomas L. Friedman: 9/11, 8/29
"On the day after 9/11, I was in Jerusalem and was interviewed by Israeli TV. The reporter asked me: "Do you think the Bush administration is up to responding to this attack?" As best I can recall, I answered: "Absolutely. One thing I can assure you about these guys is that they know how to pull the trigger.".."
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September 11, 2005 - Garrison Keillor: A city to love, but not to live in
"Blanche DuBois said she always had depended on the kindness of strangers but that was before Katrina hit. Katrina showed you pretty clearly that you should never ever get in a situation where you're trapped and don't have food or water. Nobody's going to come. Lower taxes and less government mean you better live on a high bluff above the river and have plenty of money..."
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September 11, 2005 - Stillwater, Forest Lake school board races crowded
"Tuesday's school board primaries in Forest Lake and Stillwater are crowded. Ten candidates are on the ballot for three open seats on the Stillwater board, while eight are aiming for three spots on the Forest Lake board..."
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September 10, 2005 - Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals
"Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina..."
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September 10, 2005 - Betty Folliard: No pay inequity? Tell that to child care workers
"If Republicans believe the best defense is a good offense, then they picked the wrong quarterback in Sarah Janecek. When addressing U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' verbal gaffs, Janecek's Stand-By-Your-Man commentary of Sept. 2 did nothing to exonerate him from misinterpreting the gross historic underpayment of women for an honest day's work..."
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September 10, 2005 - Board votes to reverse cuts in teachers, busing
"The Stillwater school board decided Thursday to use funding approved by the Legislature this summer to reduce class sizes and reverse some transportation cuts the district made last spring..."
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September 8, 2005 - After Katrina fiasco, time for Bush to go
"The disastrous federal response to Katrina exposes a record of incompetence, misjudgment and ideological blinders that should lead to serious doubts that the Bush administration should be allowed to continue in office..."
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September 8, 2005 - The Patriot Act on Trial
"Brandon Mayfield is the Justice Department's worst nightmare. Not because he's done anything illegal or dangerous to American security but because he hasn't..."
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September 8, 2005 - Poll: Majority Now Want Bush Focus on U.S.
"- Hurricane Katrina has made Americans heartsick. They're depressed about the images of destruction and despair they see from the storm zone and they increasingly want President Bush to shift his attention toward home, a poll released Thursday found..."
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September 8, 2005 - Texas groups linked to DeLay indicted in scandal
"A Texas grand jury has indicted a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as well as a powerful business group on charges they violated the state's campaign finance laws, officials said on Thursday..."
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September 8, 2005 - Editorial: Accountability/Little to be seen on Katrina
"If the human misery that followed Hurricane Katrina has been shocking and painful, the federal government's shifting explanations for its needless severity have been utterly shameful..."
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September 8, 2005 - Exposed by Katrina, FEMA's flaws were years in making
"When Hurricane Katrina submerged a city, ravaged three states and disrupted hundreds of thousands of lives, it also laid bare huge gaps in the nation's ability to respond to disasters. None is more jaw-dropping than the ineptitude shown by the federal agency created to respond to natural disasters..."
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September 7, 2005 - Republicans say hurricane won't stop budget cuts
"Republicans in Congress on Wednesday rejected calls by Democrats to suspend work on tax cuts, that would mainly benefit the rich, and spending reductions on social programs because of the huge costs of hurricane relief..."
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September 7, 2005 - The 'Stuff Happens' Presidency
"We're not number one. We're not even close. By which measures, precisely, do we lead the world? Caring for our countrymen? You jest. A first-class physical infrastructure? Tell that to New Orleans. Throwing so much money at the rich that we've got nothing left over to promote the general welfare? Now you're talking..."
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September 7, 2005 - United States of shame
"Stuff happens. And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens..."
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September 7, 2005 - Calif. Assembly passes bill to allow gay marriage
"A bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry won final passage on Tuesday in the California Assembly, marking the first time a state legislature in the United States has endorsed gay marriage..."
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September 7, 2005 - The Cost of Fuel Hits the SchoolsThe Cost of Fuel Hits the Schools
"Students from Rosemount, Apple Valley, and Eagan will travel more than two and a half million miles this year, and each of the district's 200 vehicles will consume a gallon of diesel fuel for about every six miles it moves them along. So it's understandable that Dukek is freaking out a little about the huge recent spike in fuel prices..."
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September 6, 2005 - Department of Education financed opinion columns
"The Department of Education paid education advocacy organizations to submit opinion pieces to newspapers and produce other ads, brochures and postcards - and many did not disclose their government ties, the department's inspector general has concluded..."
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September 6, 2005 - Bush resists immediate probe into Katrina response
"President George W. Bush pledged on Tuesday to review what went wrong in the initial response to Hurricane Katrina but resisted any immediate probe and lawmakers launched an investigation of their own..."
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September 6, 2005 - Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor
"Finally, we have discovered the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism.".."
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September 6, 2005 - Address income inequity to foster American values
"When Henry Ford was developing the assembly line as well as the compensation structure at Ford Motor Co., he believed his employees should be able to afford the cars they were making. That noble philosophy is disappearing from America's boardrooms..."
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September 6, 2005 - The Larger Shame
"The wretchedness coming across our television screens from Louisiana has illuminated the way children sometimes pay with their lives, even in America, for being born to poor families..."
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September 6, 2005 - John Roberts's Rapid Ascension
"President Bush surprised many with his swift decision to nominate Judge John Roberts Jr. to be the next chief justice of the United States. If Mr. Bush thought Mr. Roberts had already impressed both the public and the Senate with his intelligence and sincerity, he figured correctly..."
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September 5, 2005 - Arianna Huffington: Memo to the Media: Stop Enabling the White House Blame Game
"When it comes to managing political crises (as opposed to national ones), the Bush White House has earned a reputation as masters of damage control. And rightly so -- let’s see you get reelected after Abu Ghraib, the “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” memo, no WMD, no bin Laden (dead or alive), and “Mission (Most Definitely Not) Accomplished”..."
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September 5, 2005 - Ari Emanuel: Doesn’t Anybody in the Administration Read?
"A recurrent motif of the administration's post-Katrina damage control has been “who could have known?” Well, doesn’t anybody in this administration read?..."
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September 5, 2005 - White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage
"Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina..."
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An open letter to the President
"Dear Mr. President:
We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right." Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism..."
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September 5, 2005 - Debate will reinvigorate U.S. labor movement
"The media has made much lately of the internal struggles within organized labor. Indeed some pundits have prematurely (and foolishly) pronounced its imminent demise. Be assured, nothing could be further from the truth..."
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September 5, 2005 - Bush Chooses Roberts, Weighs Other Vacancy
"Seizing a historic opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court, President Bush swiftly chose conservative John Roberts as chief justice Monday and weighed how to fill another vacancy that could push the nation's highest court to the right on issues from abortion to affirmative action..."
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September 5, 2005 - A Failure of Leadership
""Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead" Neither the death of the chief justice nor the frantic efforts of panicked White House political advisers can conceal the magnitude of the president's failure of leadership last week. The catastrophe in New Orleans billowed up like the howling winds of hell and was carried live and in color on television screens across the U.S. and around the world..."
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September 4, 2005 - It's time to face the facts on excessive oil consumption
"I recall one of my college professors long ago commenting that the notion of raising the rest of the world to the American standard of living was sheer nonsense. He flatly (and rightly) declared there just are not enough natural resources worldwide to provide, for example, an automobile for all 6.5 billion people living on this planet..."
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September 4, 2005 - History charts the human storm after the storm
"Hurricanes come in two waves. First comes the rainstorm, and then comes what the historian John Barry calls the "human storm" -- the recriminations, the political conflict and the battle over compensation..."
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September 4, 2005 - Minnesota's formula really works
"The next time someone tells you that Minnesota's welfare system makes it a magnet for deadbeats, pull out last week's Census report on poverty and ask this question: If Minnesota is such a great place to be poor, why doesn't it have more poor people?..."
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September 4, 2005 - The Missing Condoms
"Uganda became Africa's leader in fighting AIDS by waging an all-fronts war. In 1991, 15 percent of Uganda's adults were infected with the virus. Ten years later the figure was 5 percent. Ugandan officials achieved this drop by bringing the disease out into the open and encouraging people to protect themselves..."
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September 4, 2005 - Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies of Cancer
"Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who oversaw the high court's conservative shift and presided over the impeachment trial of President Clinton, died Saturday evening. He was 80 years old and had spent 33 years on the Supreme Court..."
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September 3, 2005 - Campaign coffers tipped to Kelly
"St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly is defending his seat with a vigorous nationwide fundraising campaign that has raised $852,617 -- nearly four times that of his nearest challenger, Chris Coleman..."
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September 3, 2005 - Clifford Poehler: Unions make life better for all workers
"The media have made much lately of the internal struggles within organized labor. Indeed some pundits have prematurely (and foolishly) pronounced its imminent demise. Be assured, nothing could be further from the truth. .."
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September 3, 2005 - Corby Pelto: If Wellstone were still a senator
"If Sen. Paul Wellstone were alive today, he would have had a field day in those Washington hallways of hypocrisy and deceit that became the womb for President Bush's Iraq War strategy..."
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September 2, 2005 - On the 'naturalness' of hurricanes
"On my 89th birthday, I ask indulgence to depart from customary journalistic detachment. Into the long-running argument about creationism vs. evolution a new catchphrase has been added, a version of creationism called "intelligent design."..."
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September 2, 2005 - Rhetoric Not Matching Reality
"The Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. The economy is booming. Anybody who leaks a CIA agent's identity will be fired. Add another piece of White House rhetoric that doesn't match the public's view of reality: Help is on the way, Gulf Coast..."
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September 2, 2005 - Response to Katrina may impact President Bush's legacy
"Blistered by stinging criticism that his administration has failed in its hurricane relief efforts, President Bush faces a new political threat that could further erode his leadership and tarnish his legacy..."
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September 2, 2005 - Despite Katrina, Frist Will Call Vote on Estate Tax Repeal
"Senate Finance Committee members were informed this morning that Sen. Bill Frist will move forward with a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax next week, likely on Tuesday, ThinkProgress has learned..."
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September 2, 2005 - Senators call hurricane response "immense failure"
"Two key U.S. senators said on Friday they will open a bipartisan investigation into what they described as an "immense failure" of the government response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina..."
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September 2, 2005 - Correction: From Paul Krugman
"In describing the results of the ballot study by the group led by the Miami Herald, I relied on the Herald’s own report, which listed only three hypothetical statewide recounts, two of which went to Al Gore. There was, however, a fourth recount, which would have gone to George W. Bush. In this case, the two stricter-standard recounts went to Mr. Bush..."
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September 2, 2005 - A Can't-Do Government
"Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening..."
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September 2, 2005 - The Man-Made Disaster
"The situation in New Orleans, which had seemed as bad as it could get, became considerably worse yesterday with reports of what seemed like a total breakdown of organized society. Americans who had been humbled by failures in Iraq saw that the authorities could not quickly cope with a natural disaster at home..."
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September 2, 2005 - Hurricane exposes issues of class, race
"Although TV correspondents covering Hurricane Katrina avoid commenting on the obvious, their cameras hold back nothing. The people who couldn't or wouldn't leave New Orleans are overwhelmingly poor and black. As are the looters..."
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September 2, 2005 - PARALYZED BY INACTION AMID APOCALYPSE
"THE Apocalypse has descended firmly upon New Orleans — reports of children being raped openly in the Superdome, gun-wielding carjackers stealing a truck full of medical supplies, and stores getting stripped of every bottle of liquor and deadly weapon thieves can lay their hands on..."
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September 2, 2005 - State stands firm on transit
"Don't expect massive changes to the state's transportation policy in reaction to rising gas prices. The state will continue to rely more heavily on roads rather than transit to move Minnesotans..."
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September 2, 2005 - Politics finds a niche at the Get-Together
"Often, the fairgoers don't intend to indulge. But they pass a certain booth and catch the pungent aroma of a treat for which they have a weakness. Then the impulse takes over and, before they know it, they're consuming ... politics..."
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September 2, 2005 - Cigarette fee challenge prompts debate
"Faced with what some legal observers consider a plausible legal challenge to the linchpin of a two-year state budget, state officials are trading blame, talking tough and pondering options for filling a potential revenue gap..."
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September 2, 2005 - Elwyn Tinklenberg: State isn't funding roads
"With the recent passage of the federal transportation bill -- and its long list of earmarked projects -- transportation issues have once again surfaced as a critical piece of unfinished business challenging Minnesota's competitiveness and quality of life..."
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September 2, 2005 - Editorial: FDA/Politics trump women's health
"Only last Sunday this page decried the all-too-frequent triumph of politics over research-based assessments in federal agencies. On Wednesday government lost yet another professional -- this time a biologist in the Food and Drug Administration -- after scientific advice was ignored..."
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September 2, 2005 - Intelligent Design Has No Place in the Science Curriculum
"Scientists who teach evolution sometimes feel as if they are trapped in an old horror film - the kind where the monster is killed repeatedly, only to come to life in a nastier form each time. Since the Scopes trial in 1925, the battle between scientists who want to teach mainstream biology in American public schools, and creationists who want to promulgate a more religious view, has gone through several cycles..."
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