Politics
‘Where is Duluth?’
I stumbled upon an interesting Duluth factoid, courtesy of the Futility Closet:
In 1871 the House of Representatives was considering subsidizing railroads to serve the Midwest, including tiny Duluth, Minn. Kentucky representative J. Proctor Knott rose, produced a bucket of sarcasm…
Yet, sir, had it not been for this map, kindly furnished me by the Legislature of Minnesota, I might have gone down to my obscure and humble grave in an agony of despair, because I could nowhere find Duluth. Had such been my melancholy fate, I have no doubt that with the last feeble pulsation of my breaking heart, with the last faint exhalation of my fleeting breath I should have whispered, ‘Where is Duluth?’
Little did he know that Duluth was destined for greatness thanks in part to its railroad. Full speech here (along with annotated laugh track): The Kentucky Anthology
Ted Nugent and Dogsledding
Reading of yet another rant by Nugent at a political rally (and an NRA gathering is a political rally) gave me a quick return to a recent trip. I spent my honeymoon in Quebec City early in January 2011. (Note: if you ever get the chance this is a great city to visit and is somewhat Duluthian in history and character.) But for a day trip my wife and I did a day long dogsled outing. We got to ride and have a driver slide us over the meadows and through the woods. It was quiet enough to carry on a conversation with the driver. (more…)
Stage Diving Mayors
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
I forgot to mark my calendar, but yesterday was Trampled by Turtles Day in both Duluth and Minneapolis. Here’s Don and RT Rybak crowd surfing at First Ave last night after making the proclamation.
Blue Laws are Stupid, Post #5
I apologize for not being as vigilant with this as John Ramos has been with his countdown, but here’s the latest sad news on one of the most idiotic laws ever:
Independent Minnesota 8th Congressional District candidate seeks nomination
I realized back when I was a young man the United States of America was not the pillar of democracy that the propagandists claim it to be. Expressing what I knew as a 19 year old, I could name quite a list of ruthless dictators that clandestine parts of the U.S. government had at least some responsibility of bringing into power if they did not outright install them. They included the Shah of Iran, Baby Doc, Marcos, Batista, Samoza, Suharto and Saddam Hussein to name a few.
(more…)
Political leanings
I don’t recall ever seeing a car covered in bumper stickers that wasn’t expressing a liberal-leaning point of view.
And I don’t recall ever seeing a sheet-of-plywood sign painted in block letters posted outside someone’s home that wasn’t expressing a conservative-leaning point of view.
Feel free to share your own examples and offer theories on why this is or is not true.
Meet Rick Nolan
Rick Nolan is running against Chip Cravaack in the 8th Congressional District.
Lot of hoo-haw fer nuthin
No change in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, except that it now includes more of Betrami County.
McNair Event at St. Scholastica
There’s been a lot of heat on PDD, on the DNT, and apparently, even on NPR, about the “Unfair” campaign to raise consciousness about the existence of structures that result in white privilege. As a result, questions of race and class and gender are flaring to the foreground.
Just for a brief counterpoint, I want today to take a look at a program that “does it right” — that recognizes that race is one variable, an important one, but only one in a matrix of privilege and works to destabilize that matrix. (more…)
Minnesota Republicans love Santorum
Considering the definition of “santorum,” there are a lot of opportunities for headline writers tonight. Your suggestions are welcome in the comments.
SOPA/PIPA Info
Welcome back to your regularly scheduled Perfect Duluth Day programming. For roughly 24 hours, PDD was blacked out to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Protect IP Act in the U.S. Senate, co-sponsored by senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.
Now that the silence is over, rant and rave all you want in the comments.
Here are some news links:
Fox 21: “Websites Black-Out in Protest of Possible Internet Censorship”
MPR: Delegation responds to Internet piracy bills
AP: Wikipedia editors question site’s SOPA blackout
Cravaack New Hampshire Dodgeball
Of all the obvious jabs at Minnesota 8th District Congressman Raymond “Chip” Cravaack for moving to New Hampshire — which reached a fever pitch today for the New Hampshire primary — this is definitely the funniest. (Note to moderators, it’s blatantly partisan, certain to test the new commenting policy).
Not sure if the movie clips are fair-use or not so I suppose it could get yanked at any time.
Monday, January 9 – City Inauguration Festivities
In the past, the swearing in ceremonies were a very small part of the State of the City activities. This year we’ve decided to try something different in order to give City Councilors their own event, allowing the newly elected councilors to be the focus of that event. So, next Monday, I will have a very short outdoor inauguration at noon at City Hall. That evening, the council inauguration will be held at 6 p.m. at Clyde Iron Works, the ceremony starting at 6:30. As a reminder, the councilors being sworn in include Jay Folse, Sharla Gardner, Jennifer Julsrud, Garry Krause, Linda Krug and Emily Larson.
At 7 p.m. there will be a reception featuring live music by Teague Alexy and the Boomchucks. All these events are free and open to the public — we’d love to see you there!
Occupy Duluth snafu
The recent post on this site promoting Occupy Duluth appears to not be from anyone representing the actual persons organizing on the ground/in-person as Occupy Duluth. (I say it in such a convoluted fashion because I don’t like giving the impression there is a membership, whoever wants to be part of Occupy Duluth is).
The link given for Facebook is to a group run by a random guy that doesn’t so much as come to our general assembly meetings (so far as I know, no-one I know has even met him in-person). (more…)
Developer has new student housing/retail plan for Woodland Middle School site
The DNT ran a story today detailing a new mixed-use residential/commercial plan for the site of the former Woodland Middle School. The developer bought the site from the school district in September. You may be familiar with the developer’s other projects like Boulder Ridge and Campus Park. (more…)
Out-of-town anarchist identified!
Out-of-town element and notorious volunteer, Diane Emerson, reacts to Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay’s reference to her at yesterday’s press conference about Occupy Duluth. She was so stunned she almost spilled her herbal tea on her Nonviolent Communication handbook! (more…)
Barack Obama vs. Dennis Kucinich and Michael Moore on Libya
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vetZKGrDYeI
This dramatizes the pie fight on the left that erupted over Libya.
If you view it on its YouTube page here, the brief title sequence plays too but you get the idea.
She Gets Things Done
On Tuesday, November 15, after a long day of working on my unfinished, but indisputably kick-ass, novel, I cracked an adult beverage and logged onto the Internet to make my usual rounds.
On Perfect Duluth Day, I found a post by City Councilor-elect Jennifer Julsrud, titled “Duluth’s Plumbing Needs Big Fix,” regarding Duluth’s aging water infrastructure. Accompanied by a short YouTube video (serious people talking seriously about water, serious music playing in the background), the post listed a series of upcoming community meetings that were to be held on the subject.
Naturally, this irritated me greatly. As far as I was concerned, this was just the latest example of Duluth’s tendency to be serious one minute about issues that actually need attention, and the next minute to stampede giddily off in pursuit of unneeded, but very expensive, luxuries that we want RIGHT NOW-as if the money we spend on the luxuries has no relation at all to the money we need for necessities.
Hey Frank Miller: Batman is the 99 percent
Warning: political, intemperate. (more…)
Duluth 2011 General Election Results
Congratulations to new city councilors Jennifer Julsrud (pending recount), Garry Krause (returning to the council after time off), Linda Krug and Emily Larson.
For the School Board, the winners are incumbent Judy Seliga Punyko and newcomers Michael Miernicki and Bill Westholm.
As for the various questions on the ballot, it’s good for parks and bad for schools. (more…)
2012 Candidate Forum … in 2011
The 2012 DFL District 8 Congressional Candidate Forum coordinated and moderated by Minnesota Public Radio has ended, but the full transcript remains. You can read it at perfectduluthday.com/candidate-forum.
The candidates are Jeff Anderson, Tarryl Clark, Daniel Fanning and
Rick Nolan.
Duluth City Council District One Election
PDD is conducting a bit of an experiment in today’s race for the District One Duluth City Council seat between incumbent Todd Fedora and challenger Jennifer Julsrud. UMD journalism students we be poll watching at the seven precincts in District One, and they will be hustling to report the results in record time. (more…)