Family, General, Politics

Gasp.

4 Comments

Sorry to leave my severe finger wagging at the East Side Review on top for so long. I’ve been buried. Sometimes work is work, and so work has been. And we had a head cold take a few of us down. And diagramming Greek is just *not* taking hold in my head. And I’m teaching this month. And… and… and…

So get out and vote. Republican. Or stay home. :)

By the way, [Obi Sium](http://www.siumforcongress.com/), who is running for Minnesota’s 4th, has finally appeared in the media. He’s running radio ads that **rock**. You gotta vote for him.

Politics

The East Side Review did not respond

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A [while back](http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/09/21/o-east-side-review-how-ye-vex-me/) I commented on a [story by Katy Zillmer](http://www.eastsidereviewnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=64&SubSectionID=130&ArticleID=718) concerning the Maplewood City Council and the Sherrie Le lawsuit. I noted what I consider to be pretty crafty bit of innuendo in the way Zillmer left out a relevant portion of the credentials of a lawyer the city had hired.

Inspired by a related bit of news (which I commented on in that [same post](http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/09/21/o-east-side-review-how-ye-vex-me/)), I sent my observation in to the [Minnesota News Council](http://www.news-council.org/). They responded (in part) with the following:

> Hi Ken. Thank you for using the Minnesota News Council’s online complaint process to submit your complaint about the East Side Review.
>
> We forwarded your complaint along with print-outs of the Lillie website and your blog to Mary Lee Hagert (Katy Zillmer’s editor at Lillie Suburban Newspapers) today. We have asked them to respond to you directly and send us a copy for our records.
>
> Because the story does not implicate or name you directly, your complaint is classified as a public complaint. It is our policy to keep public complaints open for 15 business days. If a media outlet does not respond within that time period, the complaint is closed.

Guess what? A month later, no response.

It’s too bad. I truly would not have minded if they responded with something so simple and believable that it showed my accusations to be presumptuous and ill-informed. I’m OK with being wrong.

But the lack of response, the [other things I’ve observed in the East Side Review](http://www.kpmartin.com/index.php?s=east+side+review) over the last few months, and the very simple facts of this particular complaint lead me to be yet more convinced that the East Side Review is quite willing to consistently report in a way favorable to one “side” of a story.

I’ve seen careful research against one side with little research going against the other.

I’ve seen what for all intensive purposes should have been an editorial by a political entity presented as news by wrapping some of it in quotes.

I’ve seen words left out of someone’s qualifications which left a distinctly inaccurate impression.

And, somehow, these all seem to be to the advantage of one group of people or the disadvantage of the other.

Shame on you, Lillie Press. Yeah, I know; that’s 1950s *Leave it to Beaver* talk. Nevertheless.

Given the best spin I can think of, shame on you for sloppy reporting. Given the less pleasant option, shame on you for presenting bias as news. And shame on you for not having the guts to either correct your work or to assert why there was nothing wrong with it.

I actually think newspapers with biases are a perfectly fine idea. Decades ago that was normal. But their biases were self-confessed; right out in the open. You knew what you were getting. You knew where to go to hear the opposition. I’m going through Doris Kearns Goodwin’s *[Team of Rivals – The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln](http://www.librarything.com/work-info/30628&book=8522743)* right now. It’s great. What were newspapers like back then? “The Whig newspaper”… “the Democratic newspaper.” They were comfortable enough – bold enough – to say who they were and stand up for what they believed.

Far from being brave, dogged ideologists, they cower behind a [disguise](http://www.zymetrical.com/product.asp?3=241) of impartiality. They neither truly report news nor truly stand for something.

I Crack Me Up, Politics

Will you win by hiding?

4 Comments

As much as I post about Maplewood, MN, I don’t live there. I just got caught up in the interesting whirlwind of local politics and personalities. I live nearby on Saint Paul’s luxurious East Side. Today, the oft-berated East Side Review landed on my step. And I congratulate them on a really nice set of pages devoted to the upcoming mid-term elections, featuring each of the candidates, and their responses to some questions which are pertinent to the particular offices.

And the Republicans running out here should be ashamed of themselves.

I’ll quote the paper:

– Lori Windels (R) did not respond to the Review’s questionnaire or a reminder phone call by deadline.
– Richard “Rick” Mulkern (R) did not respond to the Review’s questionnaire or a reminder phone call by deadline.
– David Buehler (R) did not respond to the Review’s questionnaire or a reminder email by deadline. (Ed: Buehler? Buehler?)

And the answer from Debi Makidon (R) provided for each of her three questions? “Please contact the candidate directly.”

Are you kidding me? **This** is how they intend to win? Hello, [Republican Party of Minnesota](http://www.mngop.com/)? Anyone working over there these last few months? What kind of ship are you running?

Oh, I know… I’m a crazy idealist. I think that if someone wants to participate in the public arena, they might want to, well, participate in the public arena. Sure the East Side is wildly democratic. I know. Maybe you wouldn’t win. But you could at least start a conversation so someone later *could*.

C’mon. It’s a questionnaire. If you’re too busy to fill it out a questionnaire, what hope does anyone have that you’ll be able to handle political office? If you’re too afraid to answer some questions, what does that say about how you feel about the strength of your positions?

In fact, that what offends me most. Some of their positions are probably like some of mine. And these would-be leaders can’t spend a moment to develop a decent polemic to defend what I could in my sleep. Is that because I’m so cool? No. (Though, plainly, I’m pretty cool.) No, it’s because I’ve thought out why I hold a position, and I’m willing to put it to the test.

And so their weakness or laziness or fear or defeatism or inability to apply a stamp to an envelope casts aspersions on perfectly legitimate positions.

Some credit is due [Obi Sium (R)](http://www.siumforcongress.com/) who is running for the U.S. House District 4 seat. Though I can’t for the life of me understand why I’ve never even heard of this guy running for Betty McCollum’s seat. He at least answered the questions. He answered pretty well.

Also, kudos to Warren Anderson (R) who did a good job, too. No website, though. Hmph. I guess the internets is too dern complicated. (Again, hello MNGOP? Dynamic template sites? CMS?)

State House District 67B candidate [Greg Le May (R)](http://www.citizensforlemay.org/) seems like someone who would actually **like** to win. It seems like he’s got an ad in every issue of the East Side Review. All year. Often a new ad. He’s got signs *everywhere*. Last weekend I even saw him standing on the corner of a local street-highway intersection with his campaign signs over him as a [sandwich board](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich_board). And he actually argues his point.

And if [Sheldon Johnson](http://www.ourcampaigns.com/images/candidates/Candidate24376.jpg) doesn’t look quite like a particular dear friend of mine, I’ll eat my hat.

And yes, that’s this website’s use number two of the phrase “casting aspersions.” :)

General

Another big multinational seeks a tax haven

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Dave Downing comments on it [here](http://www.downingworld.com/DW10-06.html#A101706).

U2! I don’t blame them. I would, too, if I had anything worth moving to a tax haven. After all…

> The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted.
> U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sutherland, 1965

I think Bono is a sincere man with a passion to make things better. Look at [PRODUCT(RED)](http://www.joinred.com/home.asp). A very cool idea. But it’s a different take on things; using the capitalist system as opposed to forcing donations through a government-based system. I hope it works well. Get your [(RED) iPod here](http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/red/). :)

I like capitalism because it accounts for Man’s nature. We like to have things for ourselves. It’s not that “greed is good” (per the movie *Wall Street*) but that self-interest is reliable. U2 isn’t being greedy by seeking a tax haven. They are just acting in their own best interest.

Politics

More mysteriously favorable press for Keith Ellison

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Keith Ellison, who is running for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional seat, seems to have the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in his back pocket. He’s had stunningly good coverage with little investigation into some things in his past which voters might be interested in. If they were told. But they’re not.

[Powerline](http://www.powerlineblog.com), a locally-written conservative blog with a national readership, has done a [very good job doing actual reporting on Ellison](http://www.powerlineblog.com/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=keith+ellison). Their [latest post](http://powerlineblog.com/archives/015578.php) brings forward an interesting commentary by an eyewitness to a local debate between Ellison and his opponent [Alan Fine](http://fineforcongress.org/). The commentator is not happy about how the reality he (or she) personally saw ended up being [reported by Rochelle Olson](http://www.startribune.com/10120/story/749791.html).

I’ll say it again: I thought news was news. I guess I’m finally seeing that news is both more and less than I ever thought.

Greek Class

Intermediate Greek – Class 6

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**First the bad news:** The iPod didn’t record this time. I don’t know why. It said it was, but it never counted up. I’ll have to babysit it next time. Too bad, too. It was a really interesting class on genitives.

**Now the good news:** Bethlehem Baptist said yes to us using a room! Starting this Thursday, if we want! Ahhh, parking and tables. And a nearby Dunn Brothers, too.

Family

Roxanne died

3 Comments

She was the cat I got for my 21st birthday. She was 18 years old, and lived well. In the days of my irresponsible youth, she wandered the woods of Burnsville, mothering countless kittens. Later, having lived and loved hard, she was content to be indoors. Death is death, but it was about the best death a kitty could have. She just fell asleep. Only Elvis – the friendliest cat anyone has ever met – is left. He’s a bit confused and sad.

I’m not much of a take-pictures-of-your-cat guy, but here she is at about one year old; five feet up on my screen door, chasing moths.

She would climb up on my chest and sleep and purr if I was sick in bed. If I overslept, she would wake me up with the gentlest bite on the nose.

She wound down pretty quickly. Just a matter of weeks. The last week and a half we saw a swift decline. She was just too tired to get off the couch and go downstairs for the night. I had to carry her; three weeks before she would have wiggled and fussed, but by then she seemed to welcome the help. Then, finally, she just stayed in bed, sleepy. Hardly enough energy to reach over for a drink of water. Hours later she was gone.

The kids ask if she’ll be in heaven. Helen’s wonderful answer is that if we need her to be, she will.

Get this, and get it straight: Crime is a sucker’s road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave. There’s no other end… but they never learn.