Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.
All The World's A Stage ...
... and the smokers on it only players. At least that's what the bar owners in Minnesota have decided. They have taken a loophole in the state no-smoking law to allow their patrons to have their tobacco, even if they have to sing for their supper, so to speak:
On a night when wind chills were expected to reach minus-40 or below, revelers hunkered down for a night of drinking at Barnacle's Resort, a popular winter redoubt for ice fishermen and snowmobilers on the north shore of Lake Mille Lacs.Helmets and jackets were stuffed everywhere. A plastic kiddie pool full of crushed ice held red meat, which was raffled off throughout the night. Two tables of Texas Hold 'Em were full, and someone was telling the story of the night Minnesota Vikings fullback Jim Kleinsasser sat there - right there - in that very stool. Smoke wafted through the bar.
Wait ... smoke? As in cigarettes?
On this Saturday night, and every Saturday night going forward until someone tells them to stop, the owners at Barnacle's are allowing their customers to light up. It's not so much an act of civil disobedience against the statewide smoking ban as it is exploiting an exception that allows smoking as part of a theatrical production.
You see, all those people drinking and smoking and laughing and telling the government to mind its own business? They're really actors.
Is this a lame dodge, a technicality? Of course it is, although ice fishermen up here are no strangers to spinning a few yarns for a drink or two. It's a lame dodge around a lame law that tells bar and restaurant owners that they cannot choose to serve smokers on property they own.
The state legislature may wind up with a theatrical boom in Minnesota. The arts have always had a strong following in the North Star State, but this year it may really be smoking. If the rest of the bars and restaurants follow the lead of Barnacle's, we may see a lot of poetry readings and Shakespearean sonnets in Minnesota bars. And while the acting may be as rotten as something in Denmark, the play's the thing -- in which they hope to catch the attention of the legislature. (via QandO)
The Miniscule Grace Of Al Franken
Al Franken has new television commercials playing locally about his deep and abiding concern for Minnesotans, part of his primary campaign to win the Democratic nomination to challenge for Senator Norm Coleman's seat. It talks about how he grew up in St. Louis Park among the fine people of the state. That apparently only applies to Democrats, however, even when stumping for votes. Otherwise, Franken demonstrates nothing but scorn:
According to Fritz, things started out fine with him taking photos of fellow Carls (that's what [Carleton College] students call themselves) with Franken. Then Franken's curiosity was raised about why Fritz didn't want to be in a pic.He's a conservative, another Carl yelled out by way of explanation.
At that point, Franken reportedly began peppering Fritz with questions about supporting President George W. Bush and former President Ronald Reagan's tax hikes. Fritz told me he got tense and, as he does in those situations, started chewing the inside of his mouth, a gesture he said was mimicked by Franken; Fritz also thought his style of speech was mocked by Franken.
An aide eventually interrupted Franken's act, Fritz said, by announcing to the candidate that it was time to go.
Fritz told me Monday that he then stuck out his hand to shake Franken's. "Well, at least it's nice to meet you," the GOPer said he told Franken, who reportedly replied, I can't say the same.
Lest anyone think that Fritz just wants to spread lies about Franken, he has corroboration for his account. It comes from Pablo Kenney -- who happens to be the president of the Carleton Democrats.
Franken has always been a bully. Temperamentally, he has some kind of deficiency that requires him to lash out at and ridicule people with whom he disagrees. He has a long record of this kind of behavior, including this heated confrontation with Laura Ingraham's producer at the 2004 Republican National Convention, in which Franken's handler had to drag him away before he got physically violent (pictures taken by Michael Brodkorb):
In this case, though, it seems especially egregious. Fritz just wanted to meet Franken, shake his hand, and had no intention to confront the supposed comedian. Instead of acting with some grace when confronted by the sight of a conservative at Carleton -- admittedly a rare event -- Franken found it amusing to pick on him in a setting where Franken figured he had the overwhelming advantage over the undergraduate in terms of numbers. It's the same kind of mentality bullies use in middle-school locker rooms to humiliate their victims, and with him mocking Fritz's nervous habits, similar tactics as well.
Al Franken. He came of age in Minnesota, but he didn't grow up anywhere. (via SCSU Scholars)
Declining Into Dhimmitude
Let's say that a public college started segregating non-restroom facilities by gender, giving women less resources than men. Add to that the dissemination of literature that instructed women to keep their mouths shut, as public speech by women offends. Top it off with diatribes that demands the shunning of Jews and Christians, and one might see the lawsuit appearing quickly in the rear-view mirror. However, in Minneapolis' Normandale College, it's just another concession to radical Muslims (via Power Line):
A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls and head-coverings. Literature titled "Hijaab [covering] and Modesty" was prominently placed there, instructing women on proper Islamic behavior.They should cover their faces and stay at home, it said, and their speech should not "be such that it is heard."
"Enter into Islaam completely and accept all the rulings of Islaam," the tract read in part. "It should not be that you accept what entertains your desires and leave what opposes your desires; this is from the manners of the Jews."
"[T]he Jews and the Christians" are described as "the enemies of Allaah's religion." The document adds: "Remember that you will never succeed while you follow these people."
A poster on the room's door advertised a local lecture on "marriage from an Islamic perspective," with "useful tips for marital harmony from the Prophet's ... life." Other fliers invited students to join the Normandale Islamic Forum, or participate in Ramadan celebrations.
One thing was missing from the meditation room: evidence of any faith but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah.
The previous meditation room got closed due to construction, and Normandale apparently decided that the only needs of its student body revolved around Islam. Ralph Anderson, dean of student affairs, declared to Katherine Kersten that the room can be used by anyone -- anyone who wants to meditate among these rather inflexible demands. In fact, a female student got chased out of the room for refusing to take off her shoes and respecting the male-female dividing line erected by the Muslims, with the school's apparent blessing.
How apparent? When Kersten asked Anderson about the incident, he declared that "both sides were probably out of line." Huh? If Anderson insists that the room is open to everyone, why should it have any kind of gender restriction on its use? In fact, why does anyone need to remove shoes to enter? Those restrictions apply in a Muslim mosque, not an American public college facility outside of locker rooms and restrooms.
Returning to the literature in the room, Anderson says he'd remove it if he found it there. Amazingly, the school has heard of these allegations but doesn't see the need to investigate them. Had someone passed around fliers denigrating Muslims as "enemies of the US", the school would have had fits, and the national news media would have dutifully covered it as anti-Muslim hysteria. In this case, however, Anderson apparently lacks the testicular fortitude to enter into that room that's "open to everyone" to see whether the allegations have any truth to them -- probably because he knows he'll have to do something about it if they do.
Muslims should have the use of the meditation room, but so should everyone else. Real multiculturalism means accommodation, not exclusion, and this room exemplifies the latter. Normandale should find an administrator who understands the difference and has the courage to stand up for all students at the college -- and to stand up to one faction determined to impose its bigotry on everyone else.
No-Knock In Minneapolis
This could have ended very badly. Police conducted a raid on a house based on bad information and wound up getting shot by the owner, who could not speak English. Fortunately for everyone, no one got hurt, but once again the wisdom of no-knock raids will get challenged by the disaster that could have occurred (via Memeorandum):
Police blamed bad information for sending a SWAT team into a north Minneapolis house early Sunday morning in a raid that ended with shots exchanged between police -- who were struck by bullets -- and the resident, who said he was just defending his family.The homeowner, who does not speak English, told his brother that he thought the police were the "bad guys" after they broke through the back door of the house, where he lives with his wife and six children. He fired and hit two police officers, who were not injured thanks to their bullet-proof vests and helmets, police said in a statement.
The Police Department's SWAT team was trying to search the two-story house at 12:46 a.m. in the 1300 block of Logan Avenue N., as part of an investigation by the Violent Offender Task Force. But police said that they learned later that bad information led them to that house.
"It was found out that this particular address was not part of that long-term investigation," police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Garcia III told KSTP-TV on Sunday. He told KMSP-TV that it was a "bad situation."
Police arrested Vang Khang for shooting the officers with two blasts from his shotgun. Afterwards, Minneapolis released him without charging him -- and well they should have. As it turns out, Khang speaks no English; he and his family are Hmong refugees. All he knew was that people had broken into his house, and he attempted to defend his family, including six children.
It could have ended in someone's death, as a no-knock raid did in Atlanta earlier this year. IN that case, an elderly woman attempted to defend herself against what she thought were violent intruders in a dangerous neighborhood. Instead, police -- again entering without announcing themselves following bad tips from an informant -- shot and killed her in the confusion. Khang managed to survive his experience with no-knock entries, but only just.
The Khang raid came at the end of a string of more successful operations against houses that served as weapons depots and safe havens for violent offenders. However, the use of the no-knock raid heightens some risks even while it might lower others, and it makes mistakes like the one at Khang's house deadly affairs. Obviously the Minneapolis police did not do their homework before busting down the door of Vang Khang, and the SWAT raid on a law-abiding resident put everyone's lives at risk for no good reason.
We need to have a conversation in every state and city about the wisdom of no-knock raids. In cases of national security and imminent violence, one might see room for such an approach, but otherwise police should announce themselves before entering private property. It seems to me that the Constitution takes that approach in the Fourth Amendment, and as Khang can attest, it does so for good reason. At least Khang is alive to attest to it.
Franken: I Have Iraq Surrounded
The Norm Coleman campaign takes Al Franken seriously, at least seriously enough to do their homework on the former comedian, author, and talk-radio host. If Franken wins the nomination from Michael Cerisi to challenge Coleman in the general election, he will not find Coleman unprepared. The campaign has already readied its first ad, and this one -- on Franken's attempts to triangulate on Iraq -- will leave a big mark:
Here are the key parts of the transcript, all of which come from video or audio recordings of Franken over the past eighteen months:
“We have to start a withdrawal, I believe, and have a timeline." (10/5/07)“I’m not sure we should set a timetable myself. I may actually, oddly enough, agree with Bush here." (6/16/06)
“I neither spoke out advocating the war or against the war." (8/21/07)
“Well, first of all, I never spoke out in favor of this war." (9/30/07)
“No one spoke out louder about this war than I did, and more consistently.” (9/30/07)
“We’ll cut funds is the bluntest instrument, where you are undercutting our troops in the field, no one is going to do that.” (11/29/06)
“I think you make the President cutoff funding for the troops." (614/07)
“I’m not for cutting off funding for the troops, and neither is the President” (10/10/07)
These ads just write themselves. Norm Coleman hasn't exactly been a rock on Iraq -- he opposed the surge in the beginning -- but he has supported the overall mission consistently. Franken hasn't been at all consistent, despite his high profile in politics. He has mostly said whatever his audience wants to hear, and that obviously changes from venue to venue.
I suspect that the Democrats of Minnesota will see the dangers inherent in running Franken against Coleman. The comedian will wind up as the joke. Expect to see Cerisi get a lot more attention over the next few months.
Also, don't miss this post at True North. (via Mitch)
Minnesota Official Lied About List
Mark Ritchie won election as Minnesota Secretary of State on a promise to "depoliticize" the office after beating the incumbent, Mary Kiffmeyer. Ritchie said that the Republican incumbent ran the office in "a partisan and unprofessional manner for the past eight years". It therefore surprised Minnesotans when people who do business with Ritchie's office began receiving e-mail soliciting donations for his political campaign shortly after his election. Ritchie denied giving the e-mail addresses to his campaign, but he has now changed his story:
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie now says that he personally gave his campaign a list of participants in a state-sponsored "civic engagement" program so it could send them a campaign newsletter that asked for a political contribution.Ritchie, a DFLer, was elected on a platform of de-politicizing the office, which supervises elections. He has been under fire since two Republican activists who attended the office's publicly funded event filed a complaint over having their e-mail addresses turned over to Ritchie's political operation.
Previously, Ritchie had denied knowing how the campaign got the list. He now insists that it solicited contributions only to pay for the newsletter itself. But its text invites recipients to an upcoming campaign fundraiser. ...
The Oct. 22 newsletter, however, invites recipients to an upcoming fundraiser and links to Ritchie's campaign website for anyone wishing to donate to "help me cover my campaign related expenses for this year."
Ritchie can't spin his way out of this conundrum. Earlier, he insisted that he had no idea how his campaign got the list of e-mail addresses of those who do business with his office. Now he admits that he personally provided that list to the campaign. That goes beyond "my staff did this without my knowledge," or any other bureaucratic nonsense.
In other words, Ritchie lied. Badly.
This isn't any technicality, either. All political parties have to deal with the Secretary of State, and they need to know that their business will be conducted professionally. Ritchie's little "newsletter" informed them that he'd be happy to help, and oh by the way, it would simply be peachy if you dropped a few dollars into the campaign fund. It looks a lot like corruption, if not a mild form of extortion.
This is the professionalism that Ritchie promised Minnesota? This is the non-partisanship that he said would be an improvement on Kiffmeyer? Mary Kiffmeyer never "asked" for political donations from people doing business with her office -- and she didn't tell lies to cover up wrongdoing, either. As I recall, she had no need.
The Minnesota state legislature should investigate its options with Ritchie. Perhaps the voters here could also look into their options. Could a recall election fulfill Ritchie's promise and raise the level of honesty and professionalism in the office of Secretary of State?
UPDATE: Gary Gross has more on this story, as does my NARN colleague Michael Brodkorb.
You Know How Those Sioux Loved Hockey
I'm just running through the blogs before I head to the airport this morning, and my partner Mitch noticed something amiss at the University of Minnesota. The U recently adopted the policy that they would not allow their sports teams to compete against schools that used Native American references for team names or mascots, part of the political-correctness movement in Academia that continues to aim at the most pointless targets in the US. The U has followed dutifully along, to no one's great surprise.
However, one has to wonder about the priorities of the administration when reading this:
A University of Minnesota policy discouraging the school's athletic teams from competing against the University of North Dakota in any sport except hockey will stand.The school's Advisory Committee on Athletics said in February that it would reconsider the policy, which was prompted by UND's Fighting Sioux nickname.
Committee chairman Douglas Hartmann now says that won't happen.
The entire point of this ban was to discourage negative ethnic stereotypes. How does hockey earn an exemption for a team named the Fighting Sioux? Did the Native Americans play hockey in the centuries before Europeans swept across the continent? Has the U's archeology school recently made a discovery that will shake the hockey world to the foundations of the ice rink?
Well, no. The U's best sport these days, and the most popular locally, is the hockey team. It competes for the national title almost every year. Refusing to play UND would create a backlash among Gopher fans, as the rivalry between the two schools generate tremendous interest -- and no small amount of cash.
At least we can see the limits of political correctness at the U of M. It isn't bound by reason, but by cash.
'One Strib Veteran'?
The Rake, a local alternative newspaper here in the Twin Cities, published an interesting cri de coeur from "one Strib veteran" about the direction of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The anonymous attribution wears thin in the first line of the quote:
As one Strib veteran tells the Mole, "The right-wing blog voices that were bashing the paper a couple of years ago, Hugh Hewitt and the rest, have gotten pretty much everything they wanted. The GOP wanted the Minnesota Poll gone, and now it's gone. They wanted to get rid of people like [editorial board members] Jim Boyd and Susan Albright and their editorial policy, and they've succeeded at that. Now there won't be editorials about the war and global warming; they'll write about local issues like zoning conflicts in Coon Rapids instead. They wanted the paper to hire a conservative columnist, and they got that. From here on out, it looks like the Strib becomes the conservative, suburbs-oriented paper, and the Pioneer Press will become the paper of the city underdogs and the blue voters. They may wind up getting pushed more to the left."
There's only one "Strib veteran" who likes to blame all his woes on Hugh Hewitt and the local conservative buh-loggers. I won't name names since he apparently lacks the testicular fortitude to speak for himself, but he used to have a local radio show in which he railed against people like Hugh and others for consistently outarguing him. He started suggesting that some of the buh-loggers were closet homosexuals, including me, which not only showed his homophobia but also his complete lack of journalistic ethics. That didn't shut us up, but it gave us a few good laughs at his expense.
I also find it hilarious that this "Strib veteran" finds the inclusion of one conservative columnist at the Strib (Katherine Kersten) so powerful that it can completely change the nature of the entire newspaper. This "Strib veteran" apparently understands his complete intellectual failure over the years of his tenure at the newspaper, and that he cannot hope to compete with any alternate viewpoint. This veteran seems to quail at the thought that he may get challenged in his own paper and will have no response except sputtering, which is the only thing he's ever done well.
For the record, the buh-loggers didn't want the Strib to stop editorializing on national and international issues. We just wanted them to be intellectually honest about it. With Jim Boyd refusing to engage Power Line after they embarrassed him on the Strib's own pages, that honesty was obviously not forthcoming. The Strib's new owners apparently understood that, like this "Strib veteran", they couldn't argue their way out of a paper bag on those issues, and instructed them to refrain from embarrassing themselves any further.
The "Strib veteran" doesn't want intellectual honesty, or a balanced perspective on the news. Unfortunately, that explains why the Strib has fewer "veterans" on its staff and fewer veteran subscribers. (via Hugh Hewitt)
UPDATE: My good NARN friend Chad the Elder explains what the Strib's readership wanted, and still don't get:
Personally, what I wanted was a local newspaper that delivered the relevant news in an objective manner, presented a broad range of views in the opinion pages, and showcased interesting material from talented writers. I also did not want my intelligence or values gratuitously insulted on a regular basis.While some of the recent departures from the editorial board are likely to diminish the insult quotient and perhaps bring better balance to the opinion section, I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe the Strib is going to address the other areas of concern. And even though her title as "Reader's Representative" seemed dubious at times, the fact that Kate Parry is moving into a new role and the Strib has no plans to replace her doesn't inspire confidence that the paper is committed to putting out a quality product.
That the "Strib veteran" appears opposed to all of Chad's reasonable expectations -- and yet remains at the Strib -- I think we can agree that Chad's predictions are probably quite accurate. Well, except for the part about me wearing a dress...
Another Challenger To John Kline
The Democrats have come up with yet another challenger to John Kline for Minnesota's Second Congressional District -- my district. The Hill reports that an Iraq war veteran will file campaign paperwork to run against Kline in the general election as a Democrat, and that the former Watertown mayor sees himself as a vanguard in the effort to make Minnesota go completely blue:
Iraq war veteran and former Watertown Mayor Steve Sarvi just began his campaign against Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) on Thursday, but he’s already talking about not only his own victory in 13 months, but three others for the state’s Democrats as well.“We’re talking about the whole state turning blue,” Sarvi said. “It’s going to be an exciting time.” ...
Sarvi, who calls himself a fiscal conservative and social centrist, believes he can take a bite out of Kline’s base. He emphasizes that he’s not running as someone “angry about the Iraq war.” But he does think it’s time to pull the troops out and force Iraq to protect itself.
“Although it seems rather conservative, I think a lot of the people in this district are more of the small-i independent and are really looking for leadership and someone who’s going to actually work to get things done,” Sarvi said.
We wish Mayor Sarvi the best of luck, and acknowledge that the Democrats have gotten smarter than they were in 2006. They ran Coleen Rowley against Kline, a woman who had national name recognition for her whistleblowing over the Zacarias Moussaoui case. However, even though she was a former FBI agent, she turned into something of a kook once she began campaigning, chasing after Cindy Sheehan and coming close to endorsing the 9/11 Truther movement. Even in a year which favored Democrats, Kline beat Rowley like a drum, 56%-40%.
This time, Democrats have found someone without the kookiness quotient, or at least seemingly so. However, one has to wonder why MN-02 would give up its reliable representative for one who campaigns on the basis of being just as conservative but whose vote would increase the caucus of the Left. Kline has served his nation honorably, first in his career as a Marine Corps officer and afterwards as Representative for three terms. Kline has a sterling reputation, including one of the leaders in the fight against earmarks and corruption. Kline has one of only eleven perfect scores on the RePork Card from Club for Growth, meaning that he voted in favor of all 50 earmark reforms that made it to the House floor this year.
John Kline is part of the solution, not part of the problem. Given the efforts by House and Senate Democrats this year in watering down earmark reform and submarining it when possible, adding to their caucus will make matters worse, not better. Sarvi may be a better candidate than Rowley -- who wouldn't be? -- but MN-02 knows a real independent and successful conservative already.
Should I Move To Minnetonka?
The answer to that question is usually Only if I win the Powerball lottery, but Jim Ramstad's announced retirement after 18 years in the House leaves yet another tough election campaign for the Republicans in 2008. The 3rd District will likely need as many GOP voters as it can get, because it's one of the remarkable minority of Congressional districts that remains competitive after decades of gerrymandering:
U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad announced today that he is retiring from Congress next year and will not seek a 10th term. Ramstad has represented the Third District, made up of the southern, western and northern suburbs of Minneapolis, since he was first elected in 1990.After 17-years of commuting to Washington as a congressman, Ramstad said he's "burned out" in an interview before his official announcement.
"My passion for serving people remains as strong as ever," said the Minnesota Republican, one of the last of what he called a "dying breed" of House moderates.
Ramstad has served with distinction in the Minnesota delegation. Like many Minnesotan Republicans, Ramstad has a moderate voting record, which represents the western suburbs of the Twin Cities. He wants to pass legislation mandating health care coverage for mental illnesses and addictions from private insurers, a project he started with the late liberal Senator, Paul Wellstone. He remarked after the last election that a Democratic majority would be beneficial in getting the bill passed, which annoyed some in the Republican Party.
Whether the GOP can hold the seat depends in large part who will win the nomination. It will probably take a moderate to be competitive, although that's not quite as cut-and-dried as the analysts will argue. Minnetonka has a bit of a conservative streak, and it has enough wealth to help float a candidate who can articulate a conservative vision. Democrats will rightly see this as a good opportunity to help hold off a Republican effort to win back the majority, and they will sink plenty of cash in MN-03 to ensure a victory.
Republicans will need to secure every vote they can get out of the Third District. Perhaps a few will move from John Kline's solid MN-02 to those western suburbs. If anyone wants to donate their summer home for a good cause, the First Mate and I would have no problems moving to the lake. No, no problem at all ....
Ten Stroll Past Sexual Assault In St. Paul
Twin Cities residents now have to share a moment of shame with New York City. Forty years ago, Kitty Genovese screamed for help when being murdered, and her Big Apple neighbors didn't lift a finger to help her -- not even to dial the phone to call the police. Yesterday, police in St. Paul say that at least 10 people saw a sexual assault take place in their hallway but did nothing to stop it:
Although police say as many as 10 people witnessed a sexual assault in a St. Paul hallway, the suspect said he has no memory of what happened.Rage Ibrahim, 25, said he blacked out from drinking too much alcohol. But he said he wouldn't have committed rape. ...
Surveillance video from a Highwood-area apartment hallway makes it clear that a sexual assault happened Tuesday, St. Paul police Cmdr. Shari Gray said.
Prosecutors charged Ibrahim, of St. Paul, on Thursday with first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
From five to 10 people peeked out of their apartment doors to see what was happening. Some started walking down the hallway but retreated after witnessing the assault, Gray said, based on surveillance video she saw. None stopped the assault, she said.
Not only did the sexual assault take place in the hallway, where the neighbors could hear the screams and pleas for help, but the security camera video shows at least ten people watching the assault and doing nothing about it. One man claims he called the police when the woman beat on his door for rescue, prior to the assault, but the police say they have no record of his call. Someone else called to complain about two drunken people in the hallway, which put the complaint at the lowest response priority for the police. They arrive 40 minutes afterwards to find out that the woman had been sexually assaulted.
Why didn't the neighbors do anything, except the one who complained about drunken clamor? The Pioneer Press notes that the residents in this apartment building are Somalis. Omar Jamal, from the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, says Somalis are used to mistrusting the police and are conditioned to say nothing. Could it also be related to their religious upbringing, which tends to blame women for sexual assaults? It makes at least as much sense as the Somali community fleeing halfway around the world to find freedom, then believing they're living in a police state after living here for a while.
Omar has a history of blaming the victim himself, as this Star Tribune article notes (via Michelle Malkin):
Ahmed beat his wife so badly last summer in her St. Paul apartment that she is in a prison of her own: She has permanent brain damage and scars. She will never be able to care for her 17-month-old son because she will never be able to care for herself.Advocates and law enforcement authorities say domestic violence often is a taboo topic in the male-dominated Somali community. Women are strongly discouraged from reporting it, said Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.
There is a "deep mistrust in the system," he said. "This case created bad disagreement in the community. Most of the men didn't like that the women [took the case] this far."
It's the women who created the "bad disagreement" by insisting that a man who literally beat his wife senseless got prosecuted for the crime. It goes a long way to understanding why Rage Ibrahim could rape a woman in a hallway while fellow Somalis strolled past and never worried about being caught or even challenged. People like Omar Jamal have his back, and so do Rage's neighbors.
UPDATE: It should be noted that Genovese's neighbors didn't have to be Muslims or immigrants to ignore her 40 years ago.
UPDATE II: I'm going to reiterate what I wrote in the comments -- if Omar Jamal wants to argue that their cultural development keeps Somalis from protecting women from being raped in hallways or even reporting it to the police, then he has made the Somali culture the point of argument, not me.
All I'm saying is that if Somalis in St Paul are culturally inclined to ignore rapes occurring right before their eyes, which part of that culture is more likely to be the issue here? Somehow I doubt it's the police in Somalia.
Doesn't Sound Like A Funding Issue
MnDOT officials had concerns about the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River last winter, focusing on the same fatigue and potential cracking that has grabbed the focus of the post-collapse coverage. Engineers debated whether to apply patches to the more worrisome points of fatigue, but in the end, opted to continue inspections instead:
Structural deficiencies in the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed Wednesday were so serious that the Minnesota Department of Transportation last winter considered bolting steel plates to its supports to prevent cracking in fatigued metal, according to documents and interviews with agency officials.The department went so far as to ask contractors for advice on the best way to approach such a task, which could have been opened for bids later this year.
MnDOT considered the steel plating at the recommendation of consulting engineers who told the agency that there were two ways to keep the bridge safe: Make repairs throughout the 40-year-old steel arched bridge or inspect it closely enough to find flaws that might become cracks and then bolt the steel plating only on those sections.
Fears about bridge safety fueled emotional debate within the agency, according to a construction industry source. But on the I-35W bridge, transportation officials opted against making the repairs.
Officials were concerned that drilling thousands of tiny bolt holes would weaken the bridge. Instead, MnDOT launched an inspection that was interrupted this summer by unrelated work on the bridge's concrete driving surface.
In the rush to point fingers, we have heard from experts on local and national television about the neglect of our infrastructure. Our local crank at the Strib decided to write a column blaming everyone from Tim Pawlenty to David Strom for killing the victims of the collapse. Instead, it looks like the engineers at MnDOT simply decided that the bridge did not appear to have sufficient problems for immediate intervention.
That was not a question of money. MnDOT officials, according to the Strib, acknowledged that they had the money in the budget to pay for the suggested repairs. In fact, MnDOT was the agency that made the determination that the I-35W bridge would not need an overhaul or replacement until 2020. Those recommendations were forwarded to the state government, which didn't have any reason to reject the evaluations supplied by the MnDOT engineers.
This could explain why Pawlenty has decided to outsource the new bridge inspections. He announced yesterday that all Minnesota bridges would undergo an extra and immediate round of inspections. At the same time, he also announced that the state had hired a consultant firm to review the inspection process and to conduct inspections themselves.
Some still insist that it must have been all about money, but MnDOT itself insists that was not the issue. They did not want to risk the bridge structure by drilling the necessary holes in the girders that would have allowed them to rivet repair plates in place. They felt the situation was not critical and that the repair could have made the structure even more unstable.
It doesn't appear that money or neglect played a part in this collapse. It looks instead that MnDOT either didn't evaluate the bridge properly, or that the fatigue it noted didn't have anything to do with the collapse.
Classless
This weekend, the Minnesota open-borders contingent turned themselves into the equivalent of Fred Phelps when they decided to picket the home of Senator Norm Coleman -- as he and his family prepared to bury his father, Norm Coleman, Sr. Coleman's presumed opponent for the 2008 Senate Race, Al Franken, couldn't breathe a word of sympathy for Coleman, and some -- not all -- of the liberal bloggers here in the state followed his lead:
A few hundred protesters crowded together briefly Sunday afternoon on the sidewalk and in the street in front of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's St. Paul home, shouting for an end to immigration policies and enforcement practices that the demonstrators say unfairly divide families.The rally -- during which participants first gathered at Summit Avenue and North Lexington Parkway and then marched about a mile to Coleman's house on Osceola Avenue -- came a day before today's burial of Coleman's father, Norman Coleman Sr., at Arlington National Cemetery. He died Thursday of bladder cancer at 82.
Protest organizers discussed whether to change their plans in reaction to the elder Coleman's death, said Alondra Espejel, with the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network.
Seeing parallels in the grief felt by Sen. Coleman and that of children who have had parents deported, organizers decided to go ahead.
That's a load of horse hockey, and it's the same thought process used by Phelps and his gang of heartless idiots when they stage homophobic protests during the funerals of American service members. Deportation is not death, no matter what one thinks of American immigration policy. The MIFN saw an opportunity to exploit the death of Coleman's father and afflict the Coleman family during their mourning -- and to grab some headlines. The MIFN and every person at that protest are nothing but ghouls.
In comparison, Al Franken is merely classless. Given the chance to show some humanity and either acknowledge Coleman's loss or focus on other topics, Franken did neither. It speaks volumes about Franken and his lack of taste, as well as his singular focus on himself. At least Franken had the sense to stay off of Coleman's sidewalk.
However, we should acknowledge those who did show class. Liberal bloggers and Coleman opponents MNPublius and Centrisity had the class to acknowledge the personal loss of our state's Senator. This shouldn't surprise anyone who follows these two blogs. Others ... didn't, and that shouldn't surprise anyone, either.
Keith Ellison, In The Nutball Box
Our new Congressman from MN-05, Keith Ellison, has performed about as well as could be predicted before his election -- he has become a 9/11 Truther. Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring has kept track of Ellison after the election, and notes a Star Tribune article that shows Ellison not quite having the courage to jump all the way into the paranoia:
On comparing Sept. 11 to the burning of the Reichstag building in Nazi Germany: "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Hitler] in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted. The fact is that I'm not saying [Sept. 11] was a [U.S.] plan, or anything like that because, you know, that's how they put you in the nut-ball box -- dismiss you."
I'd say that this puts Ellison squarely in the nutball box. It shows a depressing lack of education about the Nazis and the Reichstag fire itself, let alone the rather obvious point that Osama bin Laden has gladly taken credit for the 9/11 attacks and that all of the evidence shows he and al-Qaeda did it. The Reichstag fire was a political stunt immediately prior to a national election that not only allowed Hitler to ban a political party but also to pack the assembly with fellow Nazis -- in order to pass an Enabling Act similar to what Hugo Chavez just pushed through Venezuela's parliament.
It did not, as Ellison presumes, give Hitler total power, at least not directly. The elections did not deliver the two-thirds necessary for the Nazis, a disappointment for Hitler. It took more street violence and locking up all the Communists to convince the other political parties to give Hitler the dictatorial power he sought -- which is, not coincidentally, how he came to be Chancellor in the first place. The fire helped the Nazis, but in the end they had to use violence and extort the Reichstag vote for the Enabling Act, which is how Hitler took away civil liberties in Germany.
(Has Ellison made the connection between that Act and the Chavez regime's similar action? What has Ellison said about Venezuela? According to Google -- nothing.)
Ellison knows that the 9/11 attacks were carried about by al-Qaeda and 19 radical Muslims. He just can't bring himself to admit it, and instead likes to flirt with paranoid conspiracy theorists who believe that the entire attack was a BushCo plot to grab power in the US. Well, if so, where is the power grab? We've held elections on schedule ever since 9/11; the only one to be delayed was the New York City municipal elections, for obvious reasons, and then only for a few weeks. Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, and might have won the Presidency in 2004 had they not nominated a total stiff to run against George Bush.
Where's the power grab? Where are all of the political groups that have been banned, all of the people disappeared under a Nacht und Nebel program, the cancelled elections? Where?
In January 2009, George Bush and Dick Cheney will step down from their offices on schedule, just as their predecessors have done, in compliance with the Constitution. At that point, a lot of people are going to have to account for their paranoia. I'd like to hope that Mn-05 will force Ellison to account for his flirtation with the paranoids, but I thought his association with CAIR would have been enough to keep him from getting elected in the first place.
Coleman To Face Primary Challenge?
Norm Coleman will face his first re-election campaign to the US Senate next year, and so far, he's looking like a lock. Polls show him consistently ahead of his presumptive Democratic challengers, Al Franken and Michael Cerisi, by twenty points in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans. He has maintained a remarkable cushion of support by steering a moderate course in Washington, sometimes frustrating his supporters but normally reliable on key issues.
Now, however, that moderate position may inspire a primary challenge, and from a former Coleman supporter and advisor. Colonel Joe Repya, a friend of mine and a formidable force in state GOP circles, told The Hill that he will decide within the next two months whether to launch his bid to unseat Norm Coleman:
An Iraq war veteran and former adviser to Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) yesterday said he is considering a primary challenge against the lawmaker in 2008.Retired Lt. Col. Joe Repya (R) lost a race for the state Republican Party chairmanship last week, after which speculation began to percolate that he would challenge Coleman.
Yesterday, in a statement, Repya confirmed that he is mulling a run. He said he will travel around the state and talk to people about the viability of a bid during the next two months.
“I’ve received numerous calls and have been approached by a number of people who have asked me to consider running against Norm Coleman for U.S. Senate,” Repya said. “I am making no decisions at this time. I am going take 30 to 60 days to decide what my political future is going to be.”
CQ readers should recall Repya; I've featured him a few times on the blog, notably in an interview from the 2004 Republican National Convention. He has a long and distinguished career in the Army, having served in the first Gulf War and volunteering for tours of duty in Iraq at an age when most men have started putting their retirement plans in place. He returned from Iraq last year, and he and I had lunch to chat about his plans and to catch up with each other. I can tell you that there are very few men I admire as much as Joe, and few men I respect as much, either.
I'm a bit conflicted about this development. Joe Repya would make a fine Senator for Minnesota, but I'm not sure that Minnesota would recognize that. We nominated a fine, accomplished conservative in Mark Kennedy last year to run for Mark Dayton's open seat -- and Amy Klobuchar, a district attorney of less accomplishment, creamed him in the race by 20 points. Granted, 2006 was a bad year for Republicans anyway, but it points out a problem in our state, which is that true conservatives do not win statewide office, at least not yet.
Coleman has done a good job in the Senate for Minnesota, but he has provided his share of frustrations. He has dabbled with supporting the comprehensive immigration reform bill, although he voted against cloture and did try to add an amendment to end the sanctuary-city movement (which got defeated). He opposed the surge in Baghdad, although he supports the war effort in Iraq. As he said in his speech at the University of Minnesota last month, he looks for compromises and solutions, but the good of that gets measured not only by what is won but also by what is lost.
Conservatives mistrust him. And the proper place to challenge Coleman is in the primary, where Republicans can debate the issues and determine which candidate best represents the policies of Minnesotans. Repya has the resumé to get serious consideration, and I don't doubt for a moment that he could present a tough challenge to Coleman. However, I'm not sure that in 2008, the conditions will have improved enough here to see Repya prevail over the Democrats -- and I know I don't want to see Senator Michael Cerisi.
The primary might do the state GOP some good, though. It could allow for a general airing of policy conflicts and help rebuild some enthusiasm that was lost in last year's elections. Even if I'm conflicted on who to support in this particular instance, I feel good about the fact that we would have two candidates of high caliber, both of whom would have the class to run clean and positive campaigns.
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