Tom Bartel Just when I thought it was safe to cancel my Strib subscription, they surprise me and put something on the front page that actually 1) contains information that I care about; 2) contains information that elucidates a larger story; and 3) nudges at least one piece of television-like spot news dreck out of the paper. … Read more
A story appeared in The New York Times on Valentine’s Day with the headline “Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?” It cited several recent books that bemoan America’s seeming self-satisfaction in the knowledge, that, well, we don’t need no knowledge, ’cause we’re Amurricans. I don’t think that’s the case. I think we don’t … Read more
It’s not any surprise to those who’ve followed the sordid history of UnitedHealth Group to see that the company is being sued by the Attorney General of New York for manipulating the reimbursement rates for their insured who go outside of the network for their care. It seems United reimburses its customers based on a … Read more
Here’s the headline from yesterday’s Strib: "Girl, 6, is grazed by bullet, leaving community hurt, too." It’s tempting just to let that stand as one more blob in the insipid lump of goo that is the Star Tribune. OK, I will, but with just one comment: Doesn’t every bullet that hits a six-year-old hurt our … Read more
I hope you all noticed the bold initiative of the Star Tribune, as expressed on their editorial page on Sunday. Yup, they put their heads together, snorted and wheezed with the Herculean effort, pressed hard on their temples to concentrate the intellect, and made their endorsement regarding tomorrow’s "Super Tuesday" nationwide primaries and caucuses. And … Read more
Every month or two a Costco coupon book arrives in the mail. Unlike the usual crap in most direct mail envelopes, the Costco book contains at least twenty coupons for stuff we actually use at our house: shampoo, Kleenex, garbage bags, dishwashing liquid. I usually look forward to my semi-monthly Costco runs, and do so … Read more
I’ve been thinking a bit about Mike Huckabee. Of course, I’ve mostly been thinking about what a disaster for the country it would be to follow the idiot currently in the White House with another. But you’ve got to admit Huckabee would be funny. For example, let’s consider his performance on the Confederate flag in … Read more
There’s going to be another inquiry into why the bridge fell. On top of the NTSB, the Legislative Auditor, and the Governor Pawlenty-hired consultants, we’re going to have the Minneapolis law firm of Gray Plant Mooty looking into things on behalf of a bi-partisan State House-Senate committee. One wonders why we need another such investigation. … Read more
Larry Berle is perhaps the friendliest guy on the planet. He seems to know everyone I know, plus most everyone else, too. He accomplishes this in a couple of ways. He gets you to introduce all your friends to him, and then he actually remembers their names, what they do, where their kids go to … Read more
NY Times media columnist David Carr told a sad tale today. It started out with him telling how the city of Chicago had just paid out $20 million to settle lawsuits by four former condemned men who had been tortured by police. He mentioned that, in essence, because of these men being tortured into confessing … Read more