Okay, so it wasn't so much Norm Coleman apologizing to Al Franken as the "Coleman campaign", and it wasn't so much an apology as an admission they got caught.  But it's still amusing...

According to Minnesota Public Radio,

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's re-election campaign is apologizing to two Minnesota newspapers for two nearly identical letters to the editor that ended up published under two different names. The campaign acknowledges a staffer was behind the letters.

I post a lot of comments and get a fair bit of mojo, so I usually have TU status.  But while reading through comments this morning, I noticed that my "Troll" button was greyed out... I apparently can't hand out donuts no more.

This struck me as odd.  Was I nabbed in another sweep of TR abusers?  I haven't handed out a troll rating in days, and I won't use them for partisan purposes (I'm not much of a partisan anyway... I like all the candidates, albiet some better than others).  I went back through my ratings and found I'd given 98 recommends and zero trolls in the past three days.  And I'm not a diarist... I haven't written a diary since the 35W bridge collapse.

edit: ct is currently tweaking the ratings system, so it's a software issue.  False alarm on my part!  I'm leaving this up so others know.

It was August 2, 2007, the official first day of the Minnesota Fringe Festival.  At 10pm, my wife and I went to the Southern Theater in Minneapolis to see our first show of the Fringe - 62, by the Third Rabbit Dance Ensemble.  John Munger, the artistic director, took the stage, and announced that due to recent events, they would not be performing their usual opening number, deeming it too lighthearted and silly for our heavy hearts that day.  A tear formed at the corner of my eye, unbidden.

Twenty hours earlier and some 200 yards away from the Southern Theater, the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River had collapsed.  None of us in that room knew how many of our fellow citizens were still in the rubble, crushed in their cars or drowned in the river.  None of us in that room knew for sure that no friends or relatives or aquaintances or friends of friends were dead.  Perhaps some in the room knew someone who was still missing, or someone who survived.  For a moment, the Southern Theater was silent... we all, unintentionally, held our breath together.

Powerful corporate lawyers preparing to defend Republican convention protesters?  I love Minnesota!

I was very pleased to read this story in the Star-Tribune this morning - 'Pinstripe brigade' is hard at work planning to defend protesters in 2008.  Rather than the violent, abusive mess of NYC in 2004 (and, well, every other GOP convention I can remember), some of the most powerful lawyers in Minnesota are working to arrange a safe, peaceful convention for the protesters.

A small armada of corporate attorneys, many of them partners in the area's most prestigious law firms, have begun meeting and strategizing ways to defend thousands of protesters expected to flock to the Twin Cities next September. And not for $500 an hour, but for free.

...

"This is the first time you have the pinstripe brigade on the protesters' side" during a major party convention, said Craig Sautter, a DePaul University professor, a consultant to Democratic candidates in Illinois and the author of three books on presidential convention history. "This is probably the most sophisticated legal effort ever on behalf of protesters to make sure their rights are adequately protected."

With a Senate vote coming soon on the Iraq supplemental funding bill, Republican support will be needed to pass it (we can't count on Lieberman).  The bill coming up this week will probably include withdrawl language similar or identical to the House bill that just got passed.

Yeah, Republican support.  And one of my Senators is Norm Coleman (R-MN), a 2002-vintage Rove sockpuppet that's up for a VERY tough reelection fight in 2008 (by "tough", I mean we're gonna kick his ass).  Smilin' Norm is one of the self-styled "moderates" who might be swayed to break ranks on this, so I should call him.  But what do I say?

I just caught James Carville's appearance on the Stephanie Miller show this morning.  She of course asked him about his calls for Howard Dean to step down, and gave him some line to run with it (or perhaps enough rope to hang himself)...

I just got a most interesting fundraising email from Ken Mehlman (yeah, I'm on their mailing list - know your enemy, I say).  And what did I learn?  That the netroots' "Use It or Lose It" campaign to get safe Democratic officials to donate part of their campaign war chests is scaring the crap out of the GOP.

Perhaps an alternate title could be "Wither the GOP Senate leadership".  They have an interesting mess on their hands.

First problem, or is it the Frist problem?  Majority Leader Frist is retiring in order to run for president full-time.  Who is his heir apparent?  Second problem is that Santorum is the GOP Conference chair - that is, the guy in charge of organizing leadership elections and committee assignments.  And Santorum is almost certainly toast this election.

And if the GOP loses its majority status, what happens?  

Sometime soon, the shit will hit the fan.  Then it will hit every last one of us.  I call it the Oil Famine.

The problem is foretold by Hubbert's Peak, also known as Peak Oil.  The world's petroleum supply is finite.  Before we use all of it, we use half of it, right?  That's Peak Oil.  Sometime around the Peak Oil point, production will go into a steady, unstoppable decline.  One of the most dangerous myths in society is that we will have serious problems once the oil is gone.  It's worse... we will have serious problems once HALF the oil is gone.  And when is that?  It might already have happened.

I've long been a skeptic when it comes to electric cars.  Too often, I've seen Kossacks get excited about vehicles that were little more than golf carts with windows, touted as the solution to all our problems.  I've argued that consumers are unlikely to accept any electric vehicles that seriously compromise performance relative to existing cars.  That means:

* Cargo capacity - should be able to carry passengers and weight/volume comparable to, say, a compact sedan at least.  No two-seaters or no-trunks need apply.  
* Top speed - must be capable of 70mph or so to safely operate on the highway.  Even local driving involves some highways in most urban areas.
* Range - 250 miles per charge minimum, 300-500 miles is better.
* Charging time - It takes five minutes to refuel your car today.  Are you willing to wait, say, five hours?  On a road trip?
* Cars per family - Some suggest a "local car" (the glorified golf carts), plus another car for longer trips or more cargo.  But that requires more expense and more parking space, so it's unacceptable for many people.

You can't win, you can't win
You sweat blood, you give in
You can't win, you can't win
Turn the cheek, take it on the chin
Don't you dare do this, don't you dare do that
We shoot down dreams, a stiletto in the back
The nerve of some people
the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people
I don't know who you think you are
who you think you are
-Richard Thompson, "Can't Win"

Why are we still in Iraq?  Why can't anyone in Washington articulate a clear exit strategy and get enough support for it to force real debate?  Because Americans can't admit they've lost the war.

Let's think, for a moment, about the future.  Not about tomorrow, or November, or even the next few decades.  Let's think about a thousand years from now, or ten thousand.  

Let's think about the inevitable changes facing humanity.

A few minutes ago, I got a fundraising call from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee...

Tomorrow morning at dawn, I'm piling my children and my niece into the car, and we're setting off on a ten-day vacation out west.  We're going from Minneapolis to Badlands National Park, spending a day seeing the Badlands and the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, etc.  Next, we're driving out through the Bighorn mountains to Yellowstone.  We'll spend four days in Yellowstone (and maybe the Grand Tetons).  Then we'll drive back through the Beartooth Pass, spend another day visiting caves in the Black Hills, and finally, come back home.

The Libertarian Dem, Kos' soon-to-be-infamous front-pager today, resonated with a lot of Kossacks, myself included.  It also raised some interesting questions about differences between liberal and Libertarian positions on issues, and where they differ, which one is right?  Now, that post is over 600 comments and counting, so I thought it would be good to address a single issue as a diary - universal health care.

Specifically, are Libertarian Dems in favor of, or opposed to, universal health care (UHC)?  And why?  This is an important test of the philosophical underpinnings of Kos' concept.  Can we say consistently WHAT we stand for, and WHY, in a way that resonates with both Libertarians and traditional Democrats?

A recent diary named School Choice Is Not the Answer presented what I believe is a fundamentally flawed and badly framed concept of education. Frankly, the corporatist/fundamentalist alliance on the right has whupped our asses on the education issue with their voucher nonsense. To beat them, we need a positive response.

My suggested response is a two-part frame:

First, vouchers are about privatization, not choice.  Vouchers are NOT necessary in order to provide school choice!

Second, the reason for school choice is different schools, not "better" schools.  Every student has different needs and different dreams.  One size does not fit all.  A "good" school for one student may be a "bad" school for another.

I read this fascinating article in the dead-tree version of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and thought I'd share it here.  This is darn good thinking!

The debate about illegal immigration rarely mentions the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA. That's regrettable, since the flood of illegal Mexicans in 2006 empirically challenges the philosophy that guided NAFTA's design.

The slogan of those who championed NAFTA was, "Trade, not aid."

More below the cut...

On Dec 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, prompting an immediate declaration of war.  On Aug 15, 1945, Japan surrendered.

In three years, eight months, and eight days, we defeated both Japan AND Germany.  After the surrenders, there was almost no resistance, and we got to the task of rebuilding the shattered nations into the peaceful, prosperous, and democratic nations they are today.