After last nights loss to the Clippers...

 
All I have to say is this, I'm sure glad the Wolves fired one of the best coaches in the league so we could lose to the Clippers. Nice job on both fronts McHale. You're a crappy general mangager and now you can add crappy coach to the resume. It really pains me to criticize a man I grew up idolizing, but enough is enough. They won't be disgracing my television set any longer. I kept cable TV for this? I'd rather watch Survivor, at least I know the participants are trying to win. RIP 04-05 Minnesota Timberwolves, RIP. I hardly knew ye'.

Bill O'Reilly and Ward Churchill

The other day I received in my e-mail Bill O'Reilly's talking points on Ward Churchill, the Colorado professor who is under attack from many for calling some who died in the 9/11 attacks as "little Eichmanns" and basically saying that "the chickens have come home to roost" in reference to American foreign policy. In the beginning, I dismissed these comments as the ravings of a left wing lunatic. Upon closer inspection, I'm convinced that these are the ravings of a left wing lunatic. I consider myself a progressive. I believe in a persons right to express his unpopular beliefs. Sometimes though a person needs to show some dignity and respect. Mr Churchill has shown himself to be lacking on both fronts. Aside from disagreeing with his ridiculous assertion that somehow the United States is responsible for 9/11, I wish this man could have shown some respect for the families of the deceased who, quite simply, have been put through enough. By his logic, I should be able to go into some unnamed country who's foreign policy I don't agree with and start taking hostages or bomb a building and somehow it would be justified. These were innocent people that were killed. These were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters that were earning money and trying to make a good life for their family. They weren't some evil coalition who's death was justified. We also have to mention how Mr. Churchill profits from our tax dollars by teaching at a state run university, apparently our government isn't so evil when he goes to the bank and cashes his paycheck. I'm sure that Mr. Churchill would feel much differently had he lost someone close to him that day.
I do hear many right wing pundits calling for his firing. I'm not sure I can agree with that. Many of them say that "he's teaching our kids this kind of garbage, and how can we have that?". I have a little more faith in the students of America than they do apparently. I've had many teachers over the years. Some were great and some were poor. Some had an influence on me, many more did not. I don't subscribe to the notion that because a Professor teaches a certain point of view, our students devour it with a rabid intensity. I believe that a student should be exposed to many different beliefs. Once in a while a person will cross the line. That's the tradeoff you accept when you live in a country such as ours. I'd much rather have to deal with a left wing nut once in a while than have the Government and the right wing dictate what constitutes acceptable thought and belief.

Lateral Two Step...

 
Something had to be done to get the Wolves going, here's the list (in my order of preference)...
-Dismiss Kevin McHale outright for incompetence
-Trade any player
-Sell the team to a new owner who wouldn't sign Joe Smith to a sweetheart deal, thus throwing the teams future in complete turmoil by losing draft picks.
-Bulldoze Target Center by "accident"
-Lock Michael Olowakandi in the basement of the Target Center and repeatedly taser him while he repeats this line "I will not shoot the ball, I will not shoot the ball..."
-Hire Phil Jackson immediately at whatever cost he asks for
-Sign Karl Malone for veteran leadership at whatever cost he asks for
-Cut Latrell Spreewell
-Cut Sam Cassell
-Cut Michael Olowakandi
-Cut Troy Hudson
-Lock Michael Olowakandi in the basement of the Target Center and repeatedly taser him while he repeats this line "I will not shoot the ball, I will not shoot the ball..."
-START FRED HOIBERG!
-Hire Clem Haskins to coach (Hey, no pesky studying to get in the way of basketball!)
-Rest Kevin Garnett for the rest of the year, (his knee is only getting worse), write off the season, and get in the draft lottery by starting this lineup:
1: Anthony Carter
2: Troy Hudson (Give him the green light to jack up misguided three after misguided three, oh wait, you don't need to tell him to.)
3: Eddie Griffin
4: Ndudi Ebi
5: Michael Olowakandi (Play him every minute of every game until he can't get up and down the court anymore).
-SIGN FLIP SAUNDERS TO ANOTHER TEN YEAR CONTRACT!

Firing Flip Saunders was the absolute LAST move this team should have made. There was no coaching problem. This is the most ridiculous lateral move I've seen a team make in the history of the league. The players deserve ALL the blame. He coached this team to the Western Conference Finals last year. He's the same coach, he's running the same plays, Hmmmm... what could possibly be different? I have an idea. It might be the junk effort the players are putting up. Namely Cassell and Spreewell. They needed to fired along with McHale and the owner should have his team taken away by Stern for gross negligence. This is what you get when you put a CEO in charge of a team. He promotes the crap and fires the gold. I can't wait for Flip to win a title with another team. I'll cheer and laugh so loud. This is the latest in a long sad history of Timberwolves basketball.

It's A Burden...

I read a story today that claims the House of Represenatives has passed a bill that makes it illegal for ILLEGAL immigrants to get a drivers license. Bravo to the Republican controlled house for passing this legislation through. What? No sarcasm you say? No snarky remarks about how the Republicans have gotten it wrong again? No, this is the kind of clear headed thinking we need in Washington. This is a common sense approach to fighting terror in my opinion. This would make it that much more difficult for a terrorist to freely operate in this country unchecked. State motor vehicle departments and some Governors lodged protests on this legislation claiming it's a "burden" and would make their employees "immigration officers". Well boo-hoo. We're very sorry to bother you, but we need to do something to control who is in this country LEGALLY and who is not. Now, we can certainly debate the the Bush administrations immigration policies (or lack thereof) are creating a huge wave of illegal immigrants that years before wouldn't have been thought possible. It's hilariously ironic that the Bush administration supports this bill, yet allows anyone and everyone to enter the country in the first place so easily. This obviously makes a states job more difficult, but something has to be done. The quote from the bills sponsor:

 
"Today there are over 350 valid drivers license designs issued by the 50 states. We all know it's very difficult for security officials at airports to tell the real ID cards from the counterfeit ones," said the bill's sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner.
Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the new features that states would have to include on drivers licenses would prevent terrorists from using them as IDs to board planes like the Sept. 11 hijackers did.

See, it's not difficult for me to get behind something a Republican comes up with. This is a good idea. I'm even for taking it a step further and getting rid of all these different designs and having one standard national ID/Drivers card. It's thinking like this that will allow this country to grow more secure over the years, not less. It isn't imposing on someones civil rights to ask for their SS number and whether or not they're a citizen. It's common sense. I'm all for people being allowed to come to this country legally and make a life for themselves. I'm against people coming in illegally and being a drain on our resources. Good grief, I sound like a right winger.

Depression...

 
It's tough to be a Democrat and sports fan in Minnesota right now. Here's a recap of what's been going down:

-Democratic Senator Dayton announces his decision not to run for a second term.
-The Timberwolves lose their sixth straight game to Memphis and fall below .500 for the first time in eight years.
-No Minnesota Wild hockey due to the lockout between players and owners (which I actually believe will be beneficial in the long run).
-It's cold here.
-The Vikings stink and will most likely stink for my lifetime.
-The Twins apparently think that the way to get to the world series is to let good players get away year after year, and replace them with rookies consistently.
-The Gopher hockey team is playing mediocre.
-The Gopher mens basketball team is playing slightly above average (Ooooo... Yay...)
-Democratic mayor of St. Paul, Randy "Traitor" Kelly, is in the midst of a corruption probe involving his assistant.
-Bushs new budget leaves out his planned Social Security reform, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and making his tax cuts permanent. I think that's how I'll balance my budget. I'll leave out my mortgage payment, my truck payment, and my cell phone. See, I have lots of money to spend this month! Maybe it's not so bad.

The Music You'll Find Me Listening To This Month...

February 2005
1) 89.3 FM - The Current (Hailing out of St. Olaf College in Northfield and owned by Minnesota Public Radio, it's hands down the best radio station I've heard in my life)
2) The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
3) Primus - Live at the Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN (Frizzle Fry from start to finish on disc 2, hooray!)
4) Ryan Adams - Love is Hell, Volumes I & II
5) Metallica - St. Anger

Mean Dean...

It appears Howard Dean is on track to be named the new chair of the Democratic National Commitee. I'm not sure how I feel about this as a Democrat. On one hand, I'm very nervous that as a political move, the appearance of the Democrats naming an anti-war candidate to head it's national party commitee could be seen as the party being weak on national defense. On the other hand, I'm ecstatic that we finally have someone who'll oraganize this mess of a party and rally the base every couple of years during fundraising. This is the man who practically invented internet fund raising with his primary campaign. Another thing he has going for him is that he's a bulldog who's ready to really fight to get democratic candidates back in a position to succeed nationally. In the end, I think this will turn out to be a strong move for the Democrats. Initially we'll hear a lot of things from the right wing media about how this proves the Democrats are again putting a left wing liberal from the east coast in charge of the party, but once that talk subsides I believe it'll be great to have a fiscal conservative in charge of party fund raising. After all, this isn't the guy who'll be fighting battles over issues with the Republicans, he's only in charge of trying to build a stronger, more unified party which the Democrats desperately need. He's most likely the best man for that job.

Here's a link to his column on "Democracy For America" and it outlines where he sees the party headed:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/

Mercury Blues...

E.P.A. Accused of a Predetermined Finding on Mercury
By FELICITY BARRINGER

Published: February 4, 2005

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - The Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general charged on Thursday that the agency's senior management instructed staff members to arrive at a predetermined conclusion favoring industry when they prepared a proposed rule last year to reduce the amount of mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants.
Mercury, which can damage the neurological development of fetuses and young children, has been found in increasingly high concentrations in fish in rivers and streams in the United States.

What a shocking development. Bush's EPA is favoring industry over the health and well being of the country and it's citizens? You have got to be kidding. This is yet another example of this administration taking care of corporate donors at the expense of you and I. I'm so tired of hearing about Bush and his non-existent environ"mental" policies. I hear Bush talk tirelessly about how he's creating a "culture of life". I would like to ask the President how he can say that with a straight face when he is putting Americans health at risk every day with his ridiculous enviornmental policies. Here's some examples of what this "steward of the land" and his administration have done and are doing to the environment:

-EPA air policy penned by polluting industries
September 22, 2004: After a federal judge two years ago forced the disclosure of documents related to Vice President Cheney's secret energy task force, the records revealed that polluters all but held the pen in crafting the Bush administration's national energy policy. Even worse, it now appears that polluters actually were the authors of some of the administration's air pollution policies.

Internal Environmental Protection Agency documents obtained by environmental groups show, for the third time, that the agency's proposal for regulating mercury pollution from power plants copied passages -- almost word for word -- from a memo written by Latham & Watkins, a law firm representing the utility industry. The politically appointed head of the EPA's air program and his chief counsel were both partners at this firm before taking over at the agency. (From Natural Resource Defense Council Website)

-Bush weakens decades old rule that protects wildife in forests
September 29, 2004: Four days after President Bush proclaimed that his environmental policies have "improved habitat on public and private lands," his administration issued a rule that tries to nullify wildlife protections dating back to the Reagan administration. For the last two decades, the U.S. Forest Service has been required to manage habitats with wildlife populations in mind, particularly to ensure that "viable populations" of fish and animal species are maintained. Environmentalists regard the so-called viability rule as one of the most important wildlife safeguards available; it has been utilized on multiple occasions to stop the Forest Service from logging in areas with declining populations of owls and other wildlife. Under the administration's new approach, timber sales need only be "consistent" with often-faulty management plans and "consider" -- but not necessarily comport with -- best available science. (From Natural Resource Defense Council Website)

-Bush administration delays new air quality standards, pushes "Clear Skies"
December 10, 2004: In a bait and switch, the White House has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to delay issuing a new rule that would curtail nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide pollution, in deference to a renewed push in Congress to pass its long-stalled air pollution legislation. Critics blasted the Bush administration for shelving the Clean Air Interstate Rule in favor of a bill that would weaken the Clean Air Act by postponing smog cleanup deadlines (from 2009 to 2015) and eliminating existing cleanup requirements for smokestack pollution.

-Bush administration's environmental policies ignore science, scientists say
October 19, 2004: Forty-eight Nobel laureates have added their voices to the mounting criticism of the Bush administration's attitude towards science. In a recent letter, these scientists stated that this administration ignores unbiased scientific advice and evidence when making public policy. The scientists say that, unlike its predecessors, this administration has institutionalized control over scientific reports to ensure they are consistent with President Bush's policy initiatives. In addition to suppressing research findings to suit its political objectives, scientists charge the administration with skewing advisory panels and squelching discussion within federal research agencies. These problems have been most notable in the field of climate change. Earlier this month, three NASA scientists and several other NASA officials described how news releases on global warming studies have been delayed or revised by Bush officials "to play down definitiveness and risks."

-EPA goes soft on pollution control for oil refineries
June 25, 2004: The Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general has criticized the agency for negligent enforcement of oil refineries' pollution control efforts. According to the IG's report, the EPA is poorly monitoring 42 refineries that agreed in court to decrease their toxic emissions, and has failed to set goals or strategies to ensure that refiners cut air pollution. The IG also found that 98 percent of related paperwork was delayed by an average of nine months, holding up pollution control projects.

-EPA ignores National Academy of Sciences on tap water contaminants
April 09, 2004: The Environmental Protection Agency has ignored the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences in deciding simply to ratify a list of 51 drinking water contaminants it developed in 1998 in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Three NAS reports on drinking water contaminants (two issued in 1999, and one in 2001) recommended, among other things, that the EPA use the latest gene-mapping technology to screen for a much larger list of contaminants, including waterborne pathogens, chemical agents, disinfection byproducts, radioactive substances and biological compounds. Instead, the EPA proposed in an early April 2004 Federal Register notice to postpone the use of the NAS recommendations until it issues a subsequent list of contaminants -- likely around 2009. NRDC and other health and environmental groups have strongly urged the agency to adopt new standards swiftly to protect against numerous contaminants that have been shown to be detrimental to human health.

-White House altered scientific findings on mercury threat
April 07, 2004: Hundreds of pages of internal government documents and email messages show that White House staffers played down the effects of mercury while working with Environmental Protection Agency officials to write regulations for coal-fired power plants. It appears that the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Council on Environmental Quality altered some of the EPA's language in developing the Bush administration's new mercury pollution proposals. Critics, who attacked the administration's plan as too weak, say the White House's subtle changes made the facts on mercury misleading.

Many scientists, environmentalists and politicians are outraged that the White House tweaked the scientific information to minimize the threat of mercury exposure. Examples of the changes include crossing out the word "confirmed" in the phrase "confirmed public health risk," and changing "are at an increased health risk" to "may be at an increased health risk." In several cases, the edits toned down the link between power plants and elevated levels of methylmercury in fish, despite the fact that power plan pollution is the largest unregulated source of mercury air pollution. In fact, high mercury levels prompted fish safety warnings in more than 44 states over the past year.

-EPA letting Clean Water Act violators off the hook
March 30, 2004: Under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to take action against water polluters on a nationwide scale. According to a report by the U.S. Public Research Interest Group, nearly two-thirds of all major water treatment facilities in the United States have exceeded Clean Water Act permit limits at least once between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2003. During the 18-month study, 436 major facilities exceeded their permit limits for at least ten months -- 35 of these plants exceeded their limits for the course of the entire study, some even going so far as to exceed their permit limits by an average of more than 600 percent. EPA enforcement actions have dwindled over the past three years -- in 2000, the EPA made 105 criminal referrals to the Justice Department, whereas 2001 and 2002 only saw 42 and 26 referrals, respectively.

-Bush cuts funding for endangered species
February 25, 2004: President Bush recently bragged about the government's new Landowner Incentive Program, which offers $26 million in grants to private landowners to protect habitat for at-risk species. But that good news is offset by the fact that his recent budget proposal slashes funding for endangered species recovery by almost $10 million -- putting it at its lowest level since the president took office. While the involvement of private landowners is useful in saving species, it is not as important as the endangered species program itself. Environmentalists have accused the Bush administration of putting the public good -- along with 1,263 threatened or endangered plants and animals -- at increased risk in an attempt to further line the pockets of a privileged few.

Keep in mind that all these are from last year only, 2004. The list is literally endless. I wish we could go back to the days when the Republican party wasn't in the back pocket of industry. We need a Republican like Teddy Roosevelt who cared deeply for enviornment and realized that to allow industry to run wild and loose was not good for America. This about sums it up:

-EPA lets power plants pollute Theodore Roosevelt National Park
February 13, 2004: As a young man, Theodore Roosevelt went to live for a time in the West in order to cure his asthma. How ironic that the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to relax estimates of air pollution over Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Last summer, EPA officials argued that the air over the park was so dirty it violated the Clean Air Act -- a situation that could lead to restrictions on future energy development in the area. Now, in a reversal that could lead to more pollution in national parks, the agency has decided to change the way it estimates air pollution over the park. Although the haze is the same, at least on paper the air will be cleaner. The deal will eliminate the need for development restrictions, allowing new coal-fired power plants to be built in the area, as planned.

In closing, this quote from Bobby Kennedy Jr. as taken from his article "Crimes Against Nature":

"George W. Bush will go down in history as America's worst environmental president. In a ferocious three-year attack, the Bush administration has initiated more than 200 major rollbacks of America's environmental laws, weakening the protection of our country's air, water, public lands and wildlife. Cloaked in meticulously crafted language designed to deceive the public, the administration intends to eliminate the nation's most important environmental laws by the end of the year. Under the guidance of Republican pollster Frank Luntz, the Bush White House has actively hidden its anti-environmental program behind deceptive rhetoric, telegenic spokespeople, secrecy and the intimidation of scientists and bureaucrats. The Bush attack was not entirely unexpected. George W. Bush had the grimmest environmental record of any governor during his tenure in Texas. Texas became number one in air and water pollution and in the release of toxic chemicals. In his six years in Austin, he championed a short-term pollution-based prosperity, which enriched his political contributors and corporate cronies by lowering the quality of life for everyone else. Now President Bush is set to do the same to America. After three years, his policies are already bearing fruit, diminishing standards of living for millions of Americans."

The rest of Mr. Kennedys article can be found here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1120-01.htm

Million Dollar Baby...

 
No, this post isn't going to be about Randy Moss. It's the name of the new Clint Eastwood movie which he directed, acted in, produced, and created the soundtrack. This movie is PHENOMENAL! I went in expecting to see your typical sports movie, but it is way much more than that. This isn't "Rocky" in the slightest. I really want to give away the plot, but I won't. All I can say is that this film, while being a sports movie as it's central theme, is much more about humanity and human relationships than any film I've seen in a long time. I really think it will deserve the Best Picture Oscar it's up for. I haven't seen the other nominees yet, but I guarantee this film earns any awards that comes its way. The direction and perforamnces are 100% class. I'm now convinced that Eastwood is a superior director (Bird, Unforgiven, Mystic River, every one a classic) than most working in Hollywood today. He's able to get something from his actors that I can't quite put a finger on. (Just see Sean Penn's performance in Mystic River for proof). The lighting in a Eastwood film is always a treat, and this one is no different. His dimly lit scenes are always classic. See this movie!

Senator Dayton...

 
From todays Star Tribune in response to the senator voting NO on the nominations of Dr. Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales:

Dayton said Senate Republicans were being overly partisan in condoning and defending "serious breaches of honesty and candor" in the Bush administration. He recalled how many of the same Republicans were eager to vote to convict former President Clinton during impeachment proceedings for allegedly lying.

"I believe that the lies of this administration to Congress and the American people, and the consequences of those lies ... go far beyond what occurred by the previous president," said Dayton. He added that Republicans "have a responsibility to not just automatically approve and defend and justify everything that's being done by an administration that happens to be of their political party."

Bravo to our honorable Senator for standing up for what he believes in. Senator Dayton is taking an immense amount of heat from Republicans who say the tone in his latest two confirmation votes (For Dr. Rice and Gonzales) is only contributing to more of a partisan divide up at the capital. I can see what they mean when you compare him to a certain other Senator. This is in stark contrast to Norm Coleman, who will go along with just about anything the administration comes up with. Personally I'm tired of these calls for "bi-partisanship". There certainly wasn't much "bi-partisanship" during the Clinton presidency. Senator Daytons poll numbers have taken a large hit as of late, with much of the reason due to the Senator closing his office during a high terror alert and his no vote for Dr. Rice. I don't know why people got in such a lather over this. Here's his quote:

"I take this step out of extreme, but necessary, precaution to protect the lives and safety of my Senate staff and my Minnesota constituents, who might otherwise visit my office in the next few weeks." "Particularly since I'm not going to be here in Washington to share that risk, I think it's immoral for me to leave them behind, knowing what I know and not being here with them."

It also seems reasonable to be able to vote your conscience during a confirmation hearing.

Successful Election...

Thanks to the bravery of the Iraqi people and the bravery of the United States soldiers, Iraq's election went relatively well. The reason I say relatively is the fact that over 40 people lost their life on that day, trying to create a new day for Iraq. I hate saying things like this was a success when there was a loss of human life, but compared to what many had been predicting, things went smoothly. I've heard turnout percentages from 72% (Fox News), to 54% (CBS News). Either way the turnout was high in many areas and the Iraqi people and the US military need to be applauded for the outstanding job they both did. The job for the US is far from over, but this is the first step in getting these brave men and women home. My immediate thoughts after hearing about the relatively low violence is that it appears there are a few pockets of resistance left, but nowhere near what the far left media has been reporting. A couple weeks back for example, one liberal media outlet was reporting that there was a comparable amount of insurgents to the number of troops we had over there. That has now been proven to be false. If that was a true report, there would have been much, much, much more violence and carnage. The left really needs to watch itself with some of their "stretch' reporting. I know we all disapprove of many things the President has done through out his presidency, but we lefties need to be much more careful about some of the statistics we're throwing around. I'm starting to see a lot of the same stretching of the truth that we've been accusing the Hannitys of the world of doing for years. We need to give credit where credit is due and while I will never think that Iraq was the proper place to invade in this "war on terror", the administration does deserve some praise for delivering a (again relatively) violence free election for the Iraqi people. I hope soon the President and the Republicans will start talking with the Democrats on an exit strategy. We don't need a timeline, just an outline of what would be considered the proper time to get most troops home. Will it be at the end of the year when the Iraqi govt. has some semblance of orderand a constitution? Will it be once the Iraqi security force is properly trained and doesn't run at the first hint of trouble? These are the questions I pray our politicians on both sides of the aisle can create some consensus on.