Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/uncategorized/page/33/)
Pig’s Eye Island owes its name to a nineteenth-century trader, Pig’s Eye Parrant, who sold liquor and guns along the Mississippi’s watery highway. The nearby settlers took his name for their growing town until they decided the more mundane sobriquet Saint Paul might lend more dignity to a territory that was soon to become a state. Continue Reading
Critics of Federal response to oil spill
disengenuous…and dishonest
A few weeks a go, I wrote that critics of Obama’s handling of the oil spill were “uninformed, unfair, and unwarranted”. Now I would like to modify that charge by adding “disingenuous”, and intellectually dishonest, as wel Continue Reading
The 2010 US Census has been in full-swing for several months now, and after the initial forms were mailed to all American households, a small army of enumerators have been deployed to follow up on all non-responsive addresses, working to fill in the blanks on information about who lives where throughout the country, and what sort of demographic background they have. This process has been massive in scale, with the U.S. Census Bureau becoming, briefly, the largest employer in the country, mainly in the form of those temporary enumerator jobs. Do you have any stories of experience as an enumerator or know someone who has? Were there any issues with safety or security when dealing with people door-to-door? Were there people who simply refused to cooperate with the Census? Continue Reading
It’s not simply that, in service to his ambitions for higher office, Tim Pawlenty is leaving Minnesota, the state he claims to love so much, in danger of losing its top-level credit rating—a move that will greatly increase the indebtedness into which he has already plunged us. Continue Reading
Twin Cities farmers’ markets have grown into a summer grocery tradition, providing shoppers with a wide array of locally grown, in-season produce. The markets range in size, focus and character, but each creates a place for neighborhood residents to meet up on the weekend and support local agriculture. Finding the right farmers’ market depends on what items you are looking to shop for, how large a selection you’d like to review, and how far you are willing to travel. For both Minneapolis and St. Paul, farmers’ markets range from large, established locations, to a wide variety of smaller satellite sites, each with their own unique feel. Continue Reading
It’s hard to decide which spectacle was more pathetic.
Was it hapless Eric Holder, the Attorney General who closed the book on torture, illegal surveillance and a host of other crimes committed by the Bush Administration, now bravely announcing the opening of criminal and civil investigations into the British Petroleum oil rig disaster?
Rebuilding Together Twin Cities dispatched 200 volunteers to do needed repairs for/with eight homeowners in the Windom Park, McKinley, Near North, St. Anthony West and Waite Park neighborhoods in North and Northeast Minneapolis on May 22.’I have a crew of 12 to 15 volunteers to do Duane’s house,” said Adam Smith, a special ed teacher from Hudson, Wisconsin. “This is my first time to supervise and one day is enough time to complete this project.” Needed repairs included painting the kitchen and living room, replacing a faucet and toilet, regrading around the house due to moisture in the basement, and installing stair and hand rails.Duane has lived in his home for 64 years. Due to a mental disability and limited income, he lacks the resources to make all the necessary repairs in the home he inherited from his parents.”I started volunteering two years ago after having had hip surgery,” said Mariette Cole, the supply runner to HOme Depot on the work day. Continue Reading
I know I have written about going to the sugar bush quite a few times over the last few years, but too bad, I am doing it again. I want to let people know about it, the ones who can’t go to the sugar bush because of jobs, a judge, or they don’t have access to maple trees. It is a big event in my life so I write about it.
Every time I used to drive down Cretin Avenue, just as I got to Selby, and depending on which direction I was heading, I’d point to the left or right and say, “My father grew up at the end of the street. Down there.” Whoever was with me would never look to the right or the left, but would answer, “I know. Continue Reading
