NOTE: I will be off-line until at least July 31: vacation and computer maintenance. This column is #20 in a series which began June 23. All previous posts are accessible here (all hi-lited dates have articles behind them). “A peace is of the nature of a conquest: For then both parties nobly are subdued, And […]
Please see NOTE at end of this post. I have discovered as I trudge along this path of attempting political conversation that political conversation is virtually impossible, to be avoided like the plague. People are stuck in believing what they want to believe, and nothing will shake them out of even looking at their individual […]
UPDATE: The ink was not even dry on this post when it was announced that the Special Session was concluded. Later update with the information about who voted how. The Governor has signed the bill into law, and the transition back to work is beginning. This story will continue. Tuesday I predicted a special session […]
Personally, I predict that the Minnesota Special Session will be towards the end of this week, probably on Thursday. Logically, the agreement between the Governor (Democrat) and the House and Senate Leadership (Republican) should pass. But this is not a logical time. At some early point approximately 200 Minnesota Senators and Representatives will take their […]
On an ordinary week I get a lot of e-mails, from all ‘sides’. This is my choice. I want to know what’s going on. It’s simple to scan and delete. Everybody has an opinion. The Obama haters are ramping up their hatred of the President of the United States; Many Minnesotans are second-guessing the elements […]
A few hours ago Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton, and the leaders of the Republican House and Senate reached a tentative agreement on bringing Minnesota back from Shutdown. Predictably, as is always true in these situations, there is a great plenty of glumness, and anger. Here’s how it was described in the independent MinnPost on-line newspaper. […]
The Family Reunion over on Saturday, I settled into my motel room in Dubuque IA. I had just given myself a mini-tour of this small Mississippi river city which I have visited a number of times over the years, and I felt impressed with what I saw. It seemed transformed from the generally drab place […]
We live in the lower-priced end of our suburb which pretty consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the U.S. Monday we were at one of the busiest intersections in our town and saw a new sign next to a local liquor store: In the Minneapolis paper today an interesting bulletin […]
One of the e-mails in my in-box on return from the family reunion in Iowa was this, from someone I’ve known for many years, who lives in a state far away from Minnesota: “I see the belt tightening as a positive but think I might not be in the majority…did you blog on this yet?? […]
The McFadden family of Dubuque IA hosted a Berning family reunion this past weekend and I attended. There were about 130 of us in attendance. It was a perfect demonstration of the old adage about effective gatherings of any kind: “Food, Fun and Family”. (An uncaptioned photo gallery is included with this post. Family members […]