Category: US Politics

by PDW58


So, Mayor Randy Kelly just wants us to forget about his little Bush "indiscretion".... sure it will be easy to ignore that hug you gave that walking piece of category 5 disaster.....Just cast a blind eye to that fact that while Democrats worked their tails off to keep Minnesota blue, you were out there collecting dirty Republican money. Sure, Randy, it should be easy to let bygones be bygone... Aw, the heck with it --- SIT ON IT, KELLY!

In case you were wondering, here are birth years of the Supreme Court Justices: Roberts (1955), Souter (1939), Ginsburg (1933), Thomas (1948), Breyer (1938), Scalia (1936), O'Connor (1930), Stevens (1920), and Kennedy (1936). It doesn't take a math genius to see that Ginsburg and Stevens are the next most likely to go -- and they are the most liberal members of the court. We need a real fight on the O'Connor replacement.

With Katherine Lanpher leaving the Al Franken show, it may be difficult to keep that show running smoothly. Lanpher hosted MPR's mid-morning show for several years before ending up with Franken. Al is great but he doesn't have any radio discipline -- Lanpher was great at making sure the commercials got in and they didn't stray off topic...too much. I hope they bring another experienced radio person to keep Al in check. Ed Schultz has been so successful because he KNOWS radio -- it is his career.

Keep the faith -- Stand Up Keep Fighting!

Category: Minnesota Politics

by PDW58

Tom Delay's "money laundering" scam is dirty money. Whether or not Tom Delay is guilty of a crime may be in dispute, but nobody is questioning the fact that his PACs are simply fronts for skirting campaign finance law. These PACs have tainted the ethics of 241 Congressman and of those 241, the 8th highest recipient is Congressman John Kline from the 2nd District.

That money is dirty; it is an ethical affront to the people of the 2nd District. That money needs to go! Give it back, Congressman Kline, and disavow this tawdry scheme. You must show your constituents where your loyalty lies. Do you stand with Tom Delay or do you stand by your promise to serve the people? If the money stays, you have to go!

Category: World Politics

by Dave Mindeman

Buried in the back pages of the newspaper you maybe found the article talking about Karen Hughes, the "spin" guru for the Bush administration, and her Saudi Arabian tour. She was dispatched to the "Kingdom" to promote all things American. On one of her stops she was giving a speech (well, maybe more of a lecture) about her sincere desire that someday, Saudi Arabian women would be allowed some of the basic freedoms American women enjoy, such as voting or driving a car.

Now, it should be explained that she was speaking to a group of highly educated Muslim women who were living in a "reform" minded area of Saudi Arabia. But the response Ms. Hughes got from these women stunned her. They indicated that they were happy with their situation and were somewhat offended that an American spokesperson would assume they were not. One of the women told her, "The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn't happy...Well, we're all pretty happy!" And the room burst into resounding applause.

Americans make a lot of assumptions about themselves. We think our lifestyle is the envy of the world. We think our motivations and aspirations are what everybody else in the world wants. It is inconceivable to us, that our culture is not a universally desired destination.

Compound those assumptions with an American administration that believes its destiny is to impose those American ideals on the rest of the world to "save" it, and you have the prescription for unmitigated disaster.

It is hard for me to believe that if those women were suddenly given those rights, that they would refuse them. But until they, themselves, decide that this is something they want, our message cannot be, we know what's best for you.

We have to have more respect for other cultures. A genuine desire to understand different traditions. Instead of working to bring "Christian values back to government", maybe we should be learning more about Mohammed, Buddha, Confuscious, or Jewish traditions. We can't isolate ourselves anymore -- the world demands our respect.

We have to promote our values without imposing them. We need to explain ourselves in a context of one culture among many, rather than the only culture that has worth. I wouldn't trade my rights and freedoms for anything -- but let's not make the assumption that other cultures want to trade their values away either.