VOICES | John McCain: Wrong president for a war-weary nation

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A warrior born and bred, John McCain’s worldview is framed by preparation for wars, fighting wars, and creating enemies for future wars. McCain threatens a war with Iran to prevent it from having nuclear weapons, expresses willingness to occupy Iraq for 100 years if necessary, talks tough to Russia, and promises Americans that there “will be more wars.”
How many wars does McCain want us to fight? His recent comment at a New Mexico town hall (8/20/08) indicating support for the reinstatement of the draft foreshadows many wars in McCain’s scary imagination. His purpose is to fight for noble causes regardless of the costs. He “knows how to win wars” and “how to capture Bin Laden” who he will follow “to the gates of hell.” These certainties and assurances despite no previous wars won or efforts to capture Bin Laden. Continue Reading

VOICES | The color of protection

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A girl was groped by a gang of boys at Valleyfair on the Fourth of July; her father was there to protect her, but he failed. Unpleasant. But the fact that the boys then beat the father to a pulp made it a Big Deal. We expect daddies to protect little girls. Rumors that the girl was white and her perps were black pushed it beyond Big Deal and into the realm of Serious News. Continue Reading

VOICES | Obama’s snubbing of Sebelius

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Barack Obama’s choosing Delaware Senator Joe Biden as running mate shows, more than ever, Obama’s presidential bid is the most transparently p.c. farce since Colin Powell’s now-I-might-no-I-won’t sham of possibly becoming the first black face in the White House. Powell jerked everybody around. He got black hopes up all over the place. He scared the living hell out his own party, the Republicans, who wanted him to sit down someplace on the sidelines but didn’t dare so say. Then, at the last minute, Colin Powell, that illustrious poster boy for social progress, called all the suspense off and went home to count his book royalties, which ever so coincidentally happened to soar while the country wonder whether he was going to run. Continue Reading

VOICES | Not even one

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If you are pro-choice and identify with the Republican Party, I urge you to become involved. Your voice, your vote, and your activism are needed. The Women’s Press editorial board was casting around for a way to personalize our coverage of the upcoming national political conventions. We wanted coverage that would stand out from other publications and have a personal angle. We hit on the idea of profiling a delegate to the Democratic Party and Republican Party conventions (hereinafter, DNC and RNC). Continue Reading

VOICES | Speak School Funding Truth

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Massive state underfunding has made taxpayer-approved levies an unfortunate necessity for Minnesota schools. Since a district’s ability to balance its books depends on elections, how a school district asks voters for an increase is very important. In a perfect world, the only literature voters would need wouldn’t even be election literature:
“The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it is the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools. The legislature shall make such provisions by taxation or otherwise as will secure a thorough and efficient system of public schools throughout the state.” Constitution of the State of Minnesota, Article 13, Section 1. Continue Reading

VOICES | Something spectacular is going to happen

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New York Time columnist Thomas Friedman wrote, “We don’t have a ‘gasoline price problem.’ We have an addiction problem. We are addicted to dirty fossil fuels, and this addiction is driving a whole set of toxic trends that are harming our nation and world in many different ways. It is intensifying global warming, creating runaway global demand for oil and gas, weakening our currency by shifting huge amounts of dollars abroad to pay for oil imports…destroying plants and animals at record rates…..”
More fundamentally our problem is that six billion people (10 billion by 2050) are addicted to the consumption of our alive, interconnected, and interdependent planet. That is not sustainable. Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute, Washington D.C., wrote, “A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without diminishing the prospects of future generations.” Sustainability is the moral issue of this generation. Continue Reading

VOICES | My Minnesota: No Child Left Behind test results

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We are living in an ever more competitive global economy. Well-paying, life-long blue collar jobs have nearly disappeared. There is no escaping that the students in our schools today must graduate at higher levels and with better skills than their parents. Are the No Child Left Behind tests the best way to measure such academic achievement? I don’t think so. Continue Reading

VOICES In the matter of Charles F. Adams

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The continued saga of Black Mpls police officersAlmost 16 years ago, an action was taken within the Minneapolis Police Department to suspend Officer Charles Adams for 20 days for insubordination. About a year and a half later, a second suspension for 10 days without pay was imposed again on Officer Charles Adams, again for insubordination and conduct unbecoming of a Minneapolis Police Officer. During the term of Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, the head of her security detail, Charles F. Adams, failed security clearance by the Secret Service on at least three occasions when she was the guest of former President Bill Clinton on return flights of Air Force One back to Washington, D.C. He never was told why. And in the late 1990s, Charles F. Adams, although number one on the sergeant�s list, was past over for promotion. Why? Continue Reading

Minnesota fun is just down the road

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Minnesota inspires dream-like visions of lakes and loons, friendliness and farms. Yet, people forget about one our state’s best kept secrets: oversized fiberglass sculptures. From the colossal 55-foot Green Giant in Blue Earth to the eponymous mascot of Pelican Rapids, the nine foot “Mother of All Pelicans”, gigantic statues dot the rolling Minnesota landscape. It’s no wonder that Weird Al Yankovic paid homage to Minnesota’s off-the-beaten path attractions in his ode to Darwin’s Twine Ball:
I said, “Kids, if you could go anywhere in this great big world, now where’d you like to go ta?” They said, “Dad, we wanna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.” When making spring break plans this year, I discovered that a series of these larger-than-life attractions could be found if I left my house in Chaska, and made a loop from Hwy 12 (starting in Delano) to Hwy 212, back to Chaska. Continue Reading