Author: rakemag

A Ford worth driving

We supported Patty Wetterling for Senate. It wasn’t hard. She’s a good person who wanted to be Senator for what she could do, not what she could be. But, for whatever reason–and many think she was pushed out by the national Democrats so they could clear the field for Amy Klobuchar to take on Mark (The Weasel) Kennedy without depleting her resources against a strong challenger for the nomination–she pulled out and endorsed Klobuchar.

But, as I once said, what’s the point of supporting Democrats if they’re just going to be a less bad alternative? All you have to do is look at Klobuchar’s website to see that she’s just as wishy washy about damn near everything as John Kerry. And you know where that got us.

Health care? By golly, Amy’s for it, only she thinks it ought to be cheaper and more efficient. Duh.

The war in Iraq? By golly again, Amy’s agin’ it–right up to the point where she thinks we ouught to pull out someday, in the future, when the time is right, when…well you get the picture.

What’s the alternative?

Ford Bell on health care? Single payer, now.

Ford Bell on the war? Pull out by next summer.

Bell may not have the DNC behind him, but at least he knows where he’s going. It may not be the Senate, but if Klobuchar gets there instead, it will just be more of the same Democratic wandering around in circles. That’s the Democrats’ chosen path, it seems.

Does all this travel make me look fat cat?

After slagging the Strib the other day, now I’ve got to be fair and give due praise for a front page story today on Norm Coleman’s travel habits.

(However,for some reason, it’s not on the front page of the Strib web site as I’m writing this, so I guess they don’t want anyone who doesn’t get the printed version of the paper to know about it unless they happen to be searching for “coleman.” Actually, it seems the Coleman story lost its place to yet another heart-string-tugger about the murdered Chaska mom. Yup, that’s worth a lot of discussion. For example, we’ve been heard at the Rake water cooler spouting such insights as, “Gee, I’m sure glad my kid isn’t a drug addled murderer, aren’t you?” and “I never thought something like that would happen IN THE SUBURBS!”)

Sheesh.

At any rate, Strib reporters Rob Hotakainen and Aaron Blake do a good job of outlining the peripatetic Coleman’s travels and who paid the freight.

They make note of a couple of things worth mentioning here: that Coleman travels, especially at other-than-government expense, more than three times as often as Jim Oberstar, the House member and pork king of Minnesota; and Senator Mark Dayton did not travel at all unless on the government’s dime.

Draw your own conclusions about Coleman’s assertion that there are no strings attached to his first class tickets around the world. And think about the distinction between Dayton, who is getting out of politics because he hates the influence of money, and Norm, who utterly embraces it.

Be sure to catch me at the Coon Rapids Home Center next week

I couldn’t really decide how to start this entry. I thought of, “If I were the editor of the Star Tribune…”, but that’s too scary even to contemplate. I thought of “I wish they had an editor at the Strib instead of a brand manager.” But finally I decided to go with, “The Star Tribune is a poor excuse for cutting down trees.”

Let’s look at today’s edition and see if you agree. The top of the front page is, literally, a fish story. Yup, you live in a major metropolitan area–an area that attracts and keeps top businesses because of its level of culture and education levels–and the top of the front page is: “Whoopee, we still have the biggest fish on record.”

OK, they did have a story (written by the Washington Post) next to it on the Iran controversy, but c’mon.

The story right under the breaking fish scoop was a heart-render ripped from the pages (no, make that TV screen) of the crap that passes for news every night at 10 p.m. Yup, it’s another person facing adversity with the help of caring friends, family, public programs and caring corporations. It is news? Is it a story? Maybe. Maybe it belongs on the Sunday feature pages. Probably, it’s on the front page because the brand manager thinks it will bring a little tear and remind us “There, but for the grace of God…” Don’t they have Katherine Kersten for that crap?

Turning to the metro section, we learn that a meeting with Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles and the School Board has been….well, cancelled. In the Strib’s defense, they have done a pretty good job of pointing out Peebles’ problems in the past. Too bad they didn’t get on her before she got here…like finding out her behavior in her last job or that she didn’t really meet the legal licensing requirements for the job or that her degree was from a cereal box.

But what I’m really gassed about is the huge photo of Norm Coleman marching with the Martin Luther King parade. If you check the Strib rate card, you’ll see that space would cost several thousand dollars to purchase…and what is a big picture of Norm with the MLKers if not an ad? Does the fact that a politician shamelessly allies himself with popular causes qualify as news? What’s next? Can we expect to see Norm cutting the ribbon at hardware store openings?

(Perhaps I’d give the Strib a pass on that if they explained that the shot of Norm with his mouth opening was him trying to explain how he voted for the new bankruptcy law which makes it even easier for the credit card companies and check cashing store fronts which prey on the poor to keep someone underfoot forever. Try to reconcile that one with the ideals of Dr. King.)

Just for contrast, compare the Strib’s superficial coverage of MLK Day with that of the Wall Street Journal, who used the occasion of Martin Luther King Day to remind us that his work is far from over. The front page yesterday of the most conservative paper in the land was a feature on how the city of Atlanta had screwed black cops out of their retirement pay. That’s journalism.

But alas, you have to pay to subscribe to wsj.com to read the story. But, unlike the free online version of the Strib, you get something for your money.