MnCSE!

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Good news for Minnesota! Minnesota Citizens for Science Education has been officially launched. This is a new advocacy group with the goal of promoting good science education in our state. Specifically—

A scientifically literate population is essential to Minnesota’s future. To that end, Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MnCSE) will bring together the combined resources of teachers, scientists, and citizens to assure, defend, and promote the teaching and learning of evolutionary biology and other sciences in K-12 public school science classrooms, consistent with current scientific knowledge, theories, and practice.

If you’d like to be more involved, join the group. Browse the personal statements of the science advisors. Come on down to Science Education Saturday at the Bell Museum, on 11 November.

Oh, and if you like the logo, buy it on a t-shirt or coffee mug.

No Friday cat blogging for us

One of the other consequences of our broken water main is that our cat, Midnight, fled the house during the ruckus, and he has not returned. This is a very lazy, timid cat who has been declawed (not by us—we do not approve of such barbarity), so he’s not exactly going to thrive out there. And it’s raining. Midnight always freaked out at getting wet or being exposed to weather. If any Morris people should spot him, let Skatje know. He does have a collar with a tag and his name, address, and phone number.

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Minnesota misogynists: vote!

The BIG fair, the Minnesota state fair, is going on right now, and Karina Hill is letting people vote on exactly which repellent Midwestern grease lump on a stick she should eat. Here’s the menu:

  1. Fried cheese puffs
  2. Cajun Season Alligator Sausage on-a-stick
  3. Deep Fried Cheese on a stick
  4. Jerk pork chop drummy
  5. Pancake wrapped around sausage on-a-stick
  6. Uffda Treat
  7. Belgium waffle on-a-stick
  8. Australian Battered Potatoes
  9. Cheese-burger calzones on-a-stick
  10. Wild Rice corndogs
  11. Key Lime Pie on-a-stick
  12. Dogzilla
  13. Egg-roll on-a-stick
  14. Fried-Egg Bagel Sandwich
  15. Pizza on-a-stick
  16. Political pop
  17. Deep-fried twinkies
  18. Chicken-chops
  19. Frozen Coffee on-a-stick
  20. Deep fried cheese curds
  21. Tater-tot hotdish on-a-stick
  22. Spaghetti and Meatball on-a-stick
  23. Deep-fried candy bar on-a-stick
  24. Deep fried oreos
  25. Deep-fried spudsters on-a-stick
  26. Spicy buffalo chicken filled wonton
  27. Blackened Cajun steak on-a-stick
  28. Bug juice
  29. Scotch Meatball on-a-stick
  30. Puff-daddy on-a-stick
  31. Pizza burgers
  32. Ice-cream on-a-stick
  33. Fresh chocolate dipped marshmallows on-a-stick
  34. Wall-Eye on-a-stick
  35. Mac-n-cheese on-a-stick
  36. Batter-dipped deep-fried chocolate chip cookies on-a-stick
  37. Fried ravioli garlic bread

If you’re the kind of wretched humanity-hating bastard who’d inflict any of those things on this poor woman’s digestive tract, circulatory system, kidneys, and brain, go ahead—vote at Minnesota Stories.

Warning: Tater-tot hotdish on-a-stick is disturbingly phallic.

Local news

Hey, this is a very good site for us Minnesotans: the Minnesota Monitor.

Minnesota Monitor is an independently-produced political news daily featuring original and investigative reporting.

As a coalition of long-time progressive bloggers, freelance writers, and professional journalists our aim is to enhance and expand the political dialogue in the Minnesota. By combining the immediacy of blogging with time-honored journalistic inquiry, Minnesota Monitor intends to provide a platform for overlooked stories, policy and campaign analysis, and unique local perspectives on the important issues of the day.

Our contributing writers subscribe to a Code of Ethics and the pursuit of truth-telling, fairness, and accountability.

If you’re interested in what’s going on in Minnesota, just a look at the top stories right now shows a lot of stuff the regular news media aren’t even mentioning.

Bye bye, Beale

Corruption and wingnut Christianity seem to go hand in hand. Case in point: Vox Day, misogynist Christian freak, is the son of Robert Beale, Minnesota millionaire, founder of both a computer products company and the Minnesota Christian Coalition. The elder Beale is on the lam from The Man for tax evasion.

“He fundamentally believes, and has stuck to his belief since this case started, that the federal income tax is illegal,” said Bradford Beale, his son and vice president of Comtrol Corp., the firm that his father founded.

“It was common knowledge at Comtrol,” wrote Rank, “that Beale was opposed to paying taxes as Beale had begun encouraging people at Comtrol not to pay their taxes and had even placed a poster in the Comtrol lunchroom advising people not to pay taxes.”

Theodore Beale, AKA Vox Day, tries to pretend it’s all a minor misunderstanding.

“He is a highly intelligent, highly educated man,” Theodore Beale said of his father. “My sense is that he believes the tax laws are being applied improperly by agents who either don’t understand that or have gone rogue.”

Daddy makes several million dollars a year, and refuses to pay any income tax. I don’t think there’s a misunderstanding or bad IRS agents trying to persecute him: he thinks he’s above the law.

Oh, and Theodore Beale was contacted at his home in Italy—no doubt enjoying the fruits of his family’s wealth.

(via Blog of the Moderate Left)

Pirates and zombies, oh my

First, the Minnesota zombies invaded the lakes. Then there was some unpleasantness from the police when they took over the mall. Now there’s going to be a zombie pub crawl in Minneapolis on Saturday, September 9. But wait! There’s also going to be a pirate pub crawl on the same day! What to do, what to do…

Actually, my personal dilemma is easily resolved by the date. It is a very bad idea to do a pub crawl the evening before your wife’s birthday. Even if the possibility of a pirate-zombie war tempts you.

(via MNspeak)

Another fair vignette

So, I’m working the DFL booth at the fair. Anyone who has done this kind of thing before knows you spend a lot of time just sitting there, trying to look open and inviting and friendly, and you end up staring across the aisle at the booths on the other side. The two directly across from me were these:

[Read more…]

Minnesota’s pet wacko

What do you do with a local politician who claims that public education is her #1 issue, while accepting money from supporters of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State? That’s our Michele Bachmann, claiming to be a supporter of education while endorsed by people who say this:

I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.

Take a look at the people who favor completely gutting public school education at the Separation of School and State site, too: D. James Kennedy, Tim LaHaye, Tom Monaghan—it’s like a chorus line of the freaky religious right. And our little Michele fits right in with them.