Video: Live From Main Street Minneapolis

FYI, if you ever find yourself wondering how independent progressive media in Minneapolis feel about playing host to the GOP convention this fall, wonder no more. They were pretty vocal about it earlier this week for Laura Flanders.
You can watch the full video here.
Source

New St. Paul Laws: Let’s Par-Tay Till 4 a.m.

Might the Republicans want to drink until 4 a.m. at their convention in St. Paul in the summer? Some legislators there think so.

In a proposal being considered in the Minnesota House, the last call for alcohol would be pushed back two hours from the usual 2 a.m. for all establishments within a 10-mile radius of the convention site.

The sponsors hope to spur spending at the convention from Sept. 1 to 4 — and also to make the Twin Cities metropolitan region seem “more sophisticated,” as one lawmaker put it.

“Las Vegas is open all night long, and New Orleans is open till dawn,” said Representative Phyllis Kahn, a Minneapolis Democrat who is a co-sponsor of the proposal. “I spend a lot of time in cities like New York and Montreal, and they all seem to have later drinking times.”

The change, which would last roughly 11 days and require suspending a state law, would also allow liquor sales on Sundays. A business that objects to the change would be free to close at 2 a.m. “The 2 a.m. closing hour is actually pretty common,” Ms. Kahn said. “But Paris and London barely have closing times at all.”

Ms. Kahn said she wanted her area to seem at least as sophisticated as other American cities.

“Somebody asked me if I was going to stay up until 4 a.m. partying,” she said.

The answer was no.

Article here

Great Story From My Hometown

The Lane Game: Seniors participate in Wii bowling tourney

The thundering roll of balls helped turn the multipurpose room of the Sally Griffin Senior Center into a virtual bowling alley Friday.

It sounded like bowling. It looked like bowling. All that was missing was the pin setter, the beer and the garish shoes.

Dozens of seniors from the Peninsula gathered for a Wii video game bowling tournament that pitted teams from The Park Lane Residence by Hyatt in Monterey, Meals on Wheels drivers from Pacific Grove, and the Griffin Center against one other

Greeeen Minnesota

I'm used to my friends in the Bay Area being avid recyclers and composting, but from my experiences in Minneapolis, it's far less common. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this article on composting in Minnesota:

Hennepin County in Minnesota has developed a multi pronged approach to recycling that now includes organic composting. This program allows individuals and business to separate their trash into two bins, one for stuff that goes to a landfill and one that is stuff that can be composted. 25% of the trash is organic and can be composted: in restaurants it is estimated that over 75% of the waste is organic and does not need to go to a methane producing landfill. Five new businesses are signing on each week and the county is working to meet it’s goal of recycling 50% of it’s waste.

For more information you can contact Randy’s Sanitation in Delano Minnesota.

Once you get in the habit, whether it’s a business or a household, you can reduce your waste, reduce your cost and contribute in a easy way to help the environment.

Congratulations Hennepin County businesses!

Brett Favre Featured in the Onion

I know that most of you are Viking fans, but there must be a few Packer fans amongst my readers. This morning the Onion featured your beloved hero Brett Favre.

GREEN BAY, WI—The Green Bay Packers addressed questions concerning the current status, future plans, and whereabouts of recently retired quarterback Brett Favre by announcing Monday that they had sent him to the country to live on a beautiful farm with a very nice family.

"We know you loved Brett Favre, but he wasn't happy here. He couldn't stay here," Packers general manager Ted Thompson told hundreds of quiet but tear-streaked Packer fans assembled at the televised Lambeau Field press conference. "And he loved you, too—he loved you very much indeed—but he needed to go someplace where he could run and jump and throw his favorite football around. And he couldn't do that here anymore."

Generalities, Misperceptions, True, and Confrontation

Max Sparber on MNSpeak posted a pretty funny, well funny to me, link from metroblogger: Top 10 Things Idiots at SXSWi have to say about Minneapolis.

The comments on the MNSpeak posting are hilarious. Minnesotans are just as guilty in regards to stereotypes of other cities. I came across many, many more California stereotypes than I could list today. But to hear the commenters talk it's as if each of these "idiots" at SXSW is performing a personal affront to them.

Most of us are uneducated when it comes to other cultures. True, we're one nation, but each geographic section is vastly different than another. Checkout the current Democratic primaries for further proof. We could all use a class in cross-cultural awareness. I think it sure would help with a lot of the awareness in the United States. For that to happen, Minnesotans or for that matter anyone must be less judgmental of the misperceptions of these idiots. It takes correcting people a time or two for it to sink in. But for that to happen you'd have to be confrontational, and we all know how Minnesotans love confrontation. There I go again with my generalizations...

Bay Area's Take On MN Issue

I've written previously about the smoking ban, but I forgot to write an entry about how certain Minnesotan businesses are circumventing the smoking ban in a very tricky manner. If I wasn't so anti-smoking in public venues, I'd be impressed that they found a loophole. Don't know what I'm talking about? Under their Weird News section the SFGate has an AP article describing the bar owners wiley ways:

All the world's a stage at some of Minnesota's bars.

A new state ban on smoking in restaurants and other nightspots contains an exception for performers in theatrical productions. So some bars are getting around the ban by printing up playbills, encouraging customers to come in costume, and pronouncing them "actors."

The customers are playing right along, merrily puffing away - and sometimes speaking in funny accents and doing a little improvisation, too.

The state Health Department is threatening to bring the curtain down on these sham productions. But for now, it's on with the show.

The article itself is interesting, but what I really found funny/interesting were the comments from the readers in response to the law/article:

jmd3606:Kevgoins, gee why don't we just have our gov't switch over to a dictatorship that way they can all tell us what we can and can't do because somethings are just too dangerous. How about stairs maybe we should outlaw those...someone could trip and fall. Cars are bad too...too many accidents. Excuse me, but adults should be able to make those kinds of decisions themselves. If I want to have a trans-fat laden dinner and follow it up with a cigarette I should be able to. And if you don't want to be around the smoke then you don't have to go to places where the smoke is.

ninety9 wrote: I'm a guy about 60. When I was a kid the harm done by smoking was regarded as a bunch of hooey put about by uptight adults - along the lines of say, sex [hey, even consorting with 5-fingered Mary] was bad. But In the 60's and 70's it really did come out that smoking was overwhelmingly harmful. And there was a big shift away from it by hipper somewhat arty types for that reason. Its so depressing to see that same crew in the majority of those smoking outside music bars these days. Where the hell did "healthy is hip" get lost?

BenderRodriguez wrote: I'd like to see some actors playing characters with lung cancer ... or speaking through a hole in their necks ...

calrhody wrote: As much as I dig the anti-smoking laws (less laundry and less painful hangovers!), this is pretty funny. I'm sure the collective town of Berkeley is pissed they didn't come up with this one. Maybe they can dress up like actors and rip a few bingers in the Marine recruiting station. They should probably learn to swim pretty soon.

jpk1 wrote: It is perfectly legal to inhale secondhand smoke in Minnesota, just as it is in California. If it makes you happy, you breathe in all the secondhand smoke you want! What is not legal is forcing others to breathe in secondhand smoke on the job. Why: because it's toxic. Secondhand smoke kills. Secondhand smoke causes heart disease, lung disease, and cancer. That's why you're protected from having to breathe it in at your workplace. And bars are a workplace. That's the point. And this "play" misses that point completely. Secondhand smoke is no different from radon or carbon monoxide or PCBs or methyl mercury: it is an airborne toxin and carcinogen, and it is a heart and lung pathogen. Secondhand smoke kills. Any workplace that forces you to inhale it, is an unsafe workplace.