Inside the Daily Planet, 11/14/07

Bachmann, Kline cast only Minnesota votes against Employment Non-Discrimination bill by Andy Birkey, Minnesota Monitor The The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed the House Wednesday in a vote of 235-185 with 35 Republicans crossing over to support the bill. Republican representatives Michele Bachmann and John Kline were the only members of the Minnesota delegation to vote against the measure, which would make sexual orientation discrimination illegal in employment, exempting religious institutions. Kazoua Kong-Thao reelected to school board, while Pakou Hang loses council race to Dan Bostrom by Tom LaVenture, Asian American Press For what was considered an ‘off-year’ political race, with no state or federal offices, their was plenty of ‘all-politics-is-local’ impact on Tuesday, with many contests brings cheers and tears. Two closely watched contests of interest to the Asian community were in St. Paul. A band of outsiders By Andrea Carlson , MN Artists At a pipe ceremony, I once teased an elder about his unorthodox way of conducting his invocations. The joke was (I always find myself needing to explain my humor) that I was undermining his authority at all–I don’t even have a pipe, let alone any kind of expertise about this ceremony. NEW IN VOICES The business end of the Vikings by Jeff Fecke, Minnesota Monitor Ladies and gentlemen, your team with no basic humanity: the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings wideout Troy Williamson’s grandmother died last week; she had raised him. At the same time his brother has been in the hospital, going in and out of a coma. And so Williamson did what anyone would do: he made funeral arrangements. He booked a ticket home to say goodbye to his grandmother and be with his ailing brother. And because of all of that, he told the Vikings that he’d have to miss a game in order to support his family. NEW IN BLOGS How to find truth by Stephen B. Young, Fifth Column