Y’all come on down—we’re having a party at my place tonight. Everyone bring something to eat or drink, hang about, talk, listen to some music…
| All you need is hate | The Delgados |
| Black Cadillacs | Modest Mouse |
| Viktorin | Hedningarna |
| Lullaby | The Cure |
| Thunder Road | Bruce Springsteen |
| Skinfakse (Delivering The Light) | Hege Rimestad |
| Porcelain | Moby |
| El Prado | Tom Griesgraber |
| Sugar Magnolia | Grateful Dead |
| Excitable Boy | Warren Zevon |
| Consequence Of Sounds | Regina Spektor |
I’m going to be so lonely tonight, aren’t I?
This is much happier news. Our county Democratic-Farmer-Labor party is having a fundraiser on 5 October, and we have a big-name guest to draw in donors…
Minnesotans are going to be a little less above average in October, when a gaggle of evil morons hit the state: James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and Gary Bauer are having a rally in St Paul to “motivate pro-family conservative Christians.” It may also help motivate us pro-family liberal atheists.
Andy wonders which Minnesota politicians will show up for these hucksters for fascism: would Michele Bachmann be a safe bet? Mike Hatch better not; I’ve seen a few of his ads, and his gun-totin’ bird-killin’ pseudo-populism is almostas annoying as Mark Kennedy’s badly acted family dramas that play up his ‘credentials’ as a CPA—if Hatch sucks up to Dobson, he’ll lose my vote. I will rip his sign out of my yard.
Real Minnesota purists will like this: a new blog, Sky Blue Waters, dedicated to environmental issues in Minnesota. The big story right now is on a major oil pipeline being run through the state, and there are also articles on other Minnesota concerns: energy issues like wind farms and ethanol production, and pollution concerns, like runoff from feedlots.
So I took The Minnesota Purity Test, and got a score that says I’m 62.1% Minnesotan. Not bad for a non-native…but then, my mother was born here, and a lot of the test is more a measure of Scandinavian-American heritage. There are a lot of people in the Seattle area who would score well on this.
Just in case my wife happens to check out the internets this afternoon, I’m sure she’ll be interested in seeing the state of her yard.
The plumbing crew came out this morning to repair our broken water main, and apparently to also plant a dead pagan king in a nice barrow outside our bathroom window, and imprint the rest of the lawn with interesting trackways. Oh, well, at least we now have fully restored water pressure.
I must also thank the kind reader who sent us the disaster preparedness and cleanup manuals. They’ll come in handy—as you might guess, there’s now a musty odor rising from our basement, and I don’t think it’s from the moldering dead king. His generosity was only exceeded by Governor Kathleen Blanco, who’s flying up from New Orleans to give us some advice tonight.
Good news for Minnesota! Minnesota Citizens for Science Education has been officially launched. This is a new advocacy group with the goal of promoting good science education in our state. Specifically—
A scientifically literate population is essential to Minnesota’s future. To that end, Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MnCSE) will bring together the combined resources of teachers, scientists, and citizens to assure, defend, and promote the teaching and learning of evolutionary biology and other sciences in K-12 public school science classrooms, consistent with current scientific knowledge, theories, and practice.
If you’d like to be more involved, join the group. Browse the personal statements of the science advisors. Come on down to Science Education Saturday at the Bell Museum, on 11 November.
Oh, and if you like the logo, buy it on a t-shirt or coffee mug.
One of the other consequences of our broken water main is that our cat, Midnight, fled the house during the ruckus, and he has not returned. This is a very lazy, timid cat who has been declawed (not by us—we do not approve of such barbarity), so he’s not exactly going to thrive out there. And it’s raining. Midnight always freaked out at getting wet or being exposed to weather. If any Morris people should spot him, let Skatje know. He does have a collar with a tag and his name, address, and phone number.
The BIG fair, the Minnesota state fair, is going on right now, and Karina Hill is letting people vote on exactly which repellent Midwestern grease lump on a stick she should eat. Here’s the menu:
- Fried cheese puffs
- Cajun Season Alligator Sausage on-a-stick
- Deep Fried Cheese on a stick
- Jerk pork chop drummy
- Pancake wrapped around sausage on-a-stick
- Uffda Treat
- Belgium waffle on-a-stick
- Australian Battered Potatoes
- Cheese-burger calzones on-a-stick
- Wild Rice corndogs
- Key Lime Pie on-a-stick
- Dogzilla
- Egg-roll on-a-stick
- Fried-Egg Bagel Sandwich
- Pizza on-a-stick
- Political pop
- Deep-fried twinkies
- Chicken-chops
- Frozen Coffee on-a-stick
- Deep fried cheese curds
- Tater-tot hotdish on-a-stick
- Spaghetti and Meatball on-a-stick
- Deep-fried candy bar on-a-stick
- Deep fried oreos
- Deep-fried spudsters on-a-stick
- Spicy buffalo chicken filled wonton
- Blackened Cajun steak on-a-stick
- Bug juice
- Scotch Meatball on-a-stick
- Puff-daddy on-a-stick
- Pizza burgers
- Ice-cream on-a-stick
- Fresh chocolate dipped marshmallows on-a-stick
- Wall-Eye on-a-stick
- Mac-n-cheese on-a-stick
- Batter-dipped deep-fried chocolate chip cookies on-a-stick
- Fried ravioli garlic bread
If you’re the kind of wretched humanity-hating bastard who’d inflict any of those things on this poor woman’s digestive tract, circulatory system, kidneys, and brain, go ahead—vote at Minnesota Stories.
Warning: Tater-tot hotdish on-a-stick is disturbingly phallic.
Hey, this is a very good site for us Minnesotans: the Minnesota Monitor.
Minnesota Monitor is an independently-produced political news daily featuring original and investigative reporting.
As a coalition of long-time progressive bloggers, freelance writers, and professional journalists our aim is to enhance and expand the political dialogue in the Minnesota. By combining the immediacy of blogging with time-honored journalistic inquiry, Minnesota Monitor intends to provide a platform for overlooked stories, policy and campaign analysis, and unique local perspectives on the important issues of the day.
Our contributing writers subscribe to a Code of Ethics and the pursuit of truth-telling, fairness, and accountability.
If you’re interested in what’s going on in Minnesota, just a look at the top stories right now shows a lot of stuff the regular news media aren’t even mentioning.
