In 2010, We Learned That . . .

Image by Felix_Nine via FlickrIt sucks to be unemployed, even if the economy is supposedly improving.

It is finally possible for gays and lesbians to serve in the military without having to treat their statuses as state secrets.

No secret is safe.  Not yours, mine or the government's.

Jon Stewart makes more sense making jokes about insanity in politics, not for calling an end to it.

When Republicans whine longer and louder and get very little done, they get rewarded with more seats in Congress.

When Democrats with a majority in both houses cave and cower to the GOP, they deserve to get their butts kicked.

Thanks to the Tea Party, anybody with half a brain can run for political office.  Anybody.

The honeymoon for President Barack Obama may have ended a long time ago.  But he did get more done in the first two years than some presidents did in four.

It is now possible for corporations to back political candidates, at the risk of alienating their customers.

A governor who put his presidential ambitions ahead of the needs of the state he's supposed to be governing was wise not to seek re-election.

We need a better way to decide elections in Minnesota.  We also need better candidates.

For a country like Haiti, which has been through so much in its history, it gets worse.

One environmental disaster can wreck an entire region for decades, while the company that caused it spends millions to tell us how "responsible" they are.

A pastor from Florida garners lots of free publicity just for threatening to burn the Koran.

Airport security becomes legalized pornography.

Apple introduces the iPad, and the previously faceless founder of Facebook becomes Time magazine's Person of the Year.

Most of these paragraphs can fit within 140 characters.

People with names like Kourtney, Khloe, Snooki and The Situation can become reality TV stars.

Great TV shows like "Mad Men" and "Friday Night Lights" have small audiences while "S--- My Dad Says" is allowed to exist.

Broadcasting icons like Larry King of CNN, Don Shelby of WCCO-TV and Charlie Boone of WCCO-AM aren't allowed to retire without great fanfare.

Being famous isn't an excuse for evading the slammer when you break the law.  Just ask Lindsay Lohan, Wesley Snipes or Charlie Sheen.

Songs celebrating bad romances, getting drunk and women from California topped the pop charts.

Lady Gaga blazed new trails in music and fashion.  Meat dresses, anyone?

3D technology is more than a marketing gimmick.  Or is it?

Conan O'Brien can survive network bungling and Jay Leno to resurface on TV.  Even if it is basic cable.

"American Idol" became just another version of "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour" without Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.

Leslie Nielsen, Elizabeth Edwards, Barbara Billingsley, Edwin Newman, Eddie Fisher, Lena Horne, Gary Coleman, Richard Holbrooke, J.D. Salinger, Bob Guccione, Tony Curtis, Dennis Hopper, Blake Edwards, Robert Byrd, Fess Parker, John Forsythe, Ted Sorensen, Corey Haim, Rue McClanahan, Patricia Neal, Lynn Redgrave, Teddy Pendergrass, Jill Clayburgh, Tom Bosley, Harvey Pekar, Merlin Olsen, Peter Graves, Robert culp, Dixie Carter, Art Linkletter, Jimmy Dean, Mitch Miller and Alexander Haig are no longer among the living.

2011 has got to be better than this.  Happy holidays, everyone.

There's No Crying In Congress

In the lame duck session of Congress, our elected officials are scrambling to get most of the key legislative work done before they have to turn the keys over to a new crop that was voted in last November.  The main event is the fight over whether or not to keep the Bush tax cuts, intended to cover everyone from the poorest to the richest, from expiring at the end of the year.

Just when you thought compromise was a four-letter word in Washington, President Barack Obama made a deal with Republican leaders to keep the tax cuts for two more years in addition to funding thirteen months worth of unemployment benefits.  Perhaps the President realized that, thanks to the election results, he now has to work with the GOP instead of ignoring them.

Liberal Democrats are up in arms over this deal because they believe the President has sold out.  They want to renew the tax cuts too, but only for the middle class.  It's nice to see the Democrats grow a spine for a change, after giving up whatever advantage they had to the GOP.  But this is the wrong issue to take a stand on, considering the economy.  If the bill doesn't pass, everybody's taxes will go up and the unemployed (up around ten percent, last we checked) won't get a thing.  Got a better idea, guys?

Otherwise, it's business as usual.  Democrats propose.  Republicans reject.  Rinse.  Lather.  Repeat.  That means the chances of immigration reform and the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this session (and probably the next) aren't good.

When the new Congress convenes next month, Republicans will have control of the House and increase their presence in the Senate.  The new Speaker of the House will be John Boehner of Ohio.  Since the election, we've gotten to know a lot more about him.  More than we really wanted to know, actually.

Boehner's an emotional guy, whether he's shouting "Hell no, you can't!" in the House chambers, or blubbering at the drop of the hat in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview.  Now he's in a position to help pass laws that might make others cry.  Boehner is such an embarrassment to the country that somewhere, Osama bin Laden must be laughing his head off.

This is the Republican Party you sent to Congress, America.  A who's who of crackpots, criers and curmudgeons riding a wave of anti-incumbent fever.  And they're about to destroy the country in order to save it.

One Month Later, We Have a Winner

Image via WikipediaDemocrat Mark Dayton is now the Governor-elect of Minnesota.  Republican Tom Emmer conceded the race to the former U.S. Senator on Wednesday.  With Dayton's lead of around 8700 votes not changing much following the election and state-mandated recount, and with every legal challenge to disputed votes denied, Emmer realized that all the king's horses and all the king's men (and women) could not contain the inevitable.

This puts to an end the second recount for a major Minnesota political race in as many years, though this one wasn't nearly as close as the 2008 U.S. Senate battle between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.  All the posturing, the challenges to the votes, and threats of lawsuits made the GOP look greedy.  Like a child having visions of sugarplum fairies, the GOP had dreams of being in control of both the Governor's office and the Legislature, at least for awhile.  Then Emmer came to his senses and pulled the plug.

Dayton will succeed Tim Pawlenty as scheduled on January 3, the first Democrat to take the oath as Governor in 20 years.  He will face difficulties immediately.  Pawlenty left him and the state with a $6.2 billion deficit.  He has a Republican legislature to deal with, which means the new Governor will find it difficult to implement his plan to raise taxes for the rich.  And, of course, the Minnesota Vikings want a new football stadium.

Until then, Dayton is scrambling to assemble a staff, find new living quarters, and to brush up on every detail of his new job.  Those won't be nearly as hard as what the next few months and years will bring to him and to Minnesotans.  Let's see how he handles it.

John Lennon: Another Day of Infamy

Cover of John LennonAs one generation remembers where they were when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on a day in early December, another generation did the same thing the night John Lennon was gunned down in front of his New York City apartment.

The details of what happened prior to the shooting have been well-documented.  What happened after that was nothing short of unbelievable:  Howard Cosell breaking news of the shooting during a "Monday Night Football" game.  Radio stations temporarily scrapping their formats to play nothing but Lennon's music.  The vigils in Central Park and in front of the Dakota apartments, where wife Yoko Ono asked for a few minutes of silent prayer.  The number of former Beatles reduced to three.

What we learned about Mark David Chapman, the man who shot Lennon, was depressingly familiar when it came to the American way of assassination:  Lone wolf trying to make a name for himself by killing (or at least wounding) a famous person, for reasons few could fathom.

Thirty years have passed.  We are down to two Beatles since the death of George Harrison in 2001--Paul McCartney (Lennon's onetime songwriting partner) and Ringo Starr.  Lennon's sons, Sean and Julian, had briefly successful music careers.  And Yoko Ono is still keeper of the flame when she's not forging her own career as a singer and artist.

The Beatles?  Forty years after their breakup (some still blame Ono), they keep making headlines.  Just recently, the surviving members and the estates of Lennon and Harrison ended a long holdout by granting Apple permission to sell their music through iTunes.  People wondered if there was a market for the songs, because everyone who has ever owned a Beatles CD or album have probably downloaded them into their mp3 players by now.  The answer came when the Beatles' music topped the digital charts, just like in the old days.

All of which proves that you can kill the messenger, but you can't kill the message--or the music.

Leaking The Truth

Image via WikipediaA website called Wikileaks is creating headaches for the U.S. government again.  This time, the site has posted millions of formerly secret documents from the State Department online.

Fearing untold damage to diplomatic efforts, the government announced measures to tighten access to who sees what on those cables.  But when a low-level military official (an Army private, actually) can store classified information inside a Lady Gaga CD and send it to an organization dedicated to exposing secrets, keeping a lid on things have become difficult in the Internet age.

The information itself is more embarrassing than dangerous.  It's on the level of how many sexual affairs your loved ones confessed to in their diaries, which they thought were never meant to see the light of day.  Such as:  Saudi Arabia wanting the U.S. to wipe out Iran's nuclear program, China having no problem with North and South Korea reuniting in a Seoul-based government, and various unflattering comments about certain world leaders.

(Maybe Mark Twain had the right idea in leaving out certain details of his soon-to-be-available autobiography until a century after his death.)

Not that Wikileaks' founder, Julian Assange, should be considered a role model of any sort.  He's wanted by Interpol for alleged sex crimes in Sweden.  But according to CBS News, Assange's supporters plan on fighting fire with fire should he end up serving prison time.  They say they'll just put out more leaks.

This is only the beginning of the leaks, we're told, and there's not a thing anyone can do to stop them.  One wonders, though, if all this sunshine has any real benefit to people beyond historians, journalists and those who work in government.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAfter a week of stuffing your face and cleaning out what's left of your bank account, it's back to reality.  Here's what's happened during that time:

• All the media commotion over new security procedures at the airport, painting employees of the Transportation Safety Administration as taxpayer-funded perverts, fizzled when passengers--who had a choice between being body scanned or being patted down--apparently decided against the more time-consuming method of being publicly fondled so they could get home quicker.  Until somebody comes up with a way to protect passengers without violating their personal space, we have two words:  Just drive.
• A 19-year old Somali-born college student was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly attempting to car-bomb a holiday lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon.  The Somali community can claim up and down that violence is not part of their culture, having escaped a homeland that's drowning in it.  But had this man been successful in carrying out his alleged plot, no amount of apologies would have been enough for the victims, which would have numbered in the hundreds.  You can bet that, starting now, holiday ceremonies will either have restricted access, or be canceled altogether.
• The end of America's role in the occupation of Afghanistan keeps getting pushed back, with the number of dead soldiers now around 1300.  This time, instead of sometime next year, NATO says its troops will leave the country in 2014.  That's time enough to turn peasants into a Taliban-fighting police force, right?  As military leaders create new excuses to stay in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama's credibility in this area is looking smaller by the minute.
• The recount to see who will be Minnesota's next governor has begun as we speak.  Representatives for Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer are looking over the shoulders of the ballot-counters, eagerly determining which votes for their men are genuine, and which ones aren't.  Dayton currently has an 8000-vote lead over Emmer, which is considerably more than when Norm Coleman led Al Franken before the 2008 Senate recount.  But that's not going to stop the state GOP from using legal tactics to delay the inevitable.
• Right now, WCCO-TV (Channel 4) is promoting itself as Minnesota's most-watched news station.  The latest ratings for November, which you can find in MinnPost's Braublog (http://www.minnpost.com/), seem to bear that out.  Gee, could it have something to do with Don Shelby anchoring his final week of newscasts?  Or do we even have to ask?

Don Shelby Lifts Anchor. Finally.

Image by Max Sparber via FlickrYou thought Don Shelby would never leave.

After several months of tributes and testimonials, the longtime WCCO-TV news anchor said goodbye to his viewers Monday night.  There was a few minutes of the obligatory headlines with co-anchor Amelia Santaniello, but then the rest of the 10 p.m. broadcast was devoted to Shelby.  The Man.  The Legend.

Not even Dave Moore, the patron saint of WCCO news, got this kind of send-off.

But Shelby deserves it.  In his 32-year career at the station, he's won just about every award in journalism and community service.  He's anchored with the likes of Colleen Needles, Pat Miles and Paul Douglas--all of whom returned last week to read the news with him one more time (never mind the circumstances under which they left WCCO in the first place).  And he's kept Channel 4 at or near the top of the local news ratings.

Shelby also had his detractors, stemming from his "Good to Know" commentaries.  Conservatives have dubbed him "DFL Don" and worse.  And when he talked about energy and climate change, he tended to harp on it a bit too much for anyone's taste.

Now the job falls to Frank Vascellaro, who will co-anchor alongside wife Amelia.  This isn't the first time he's had to replace a local news legend.  Vascellaro was the guy who followed Paul Magers at KARE, Channel 11 when Magers moved west to become news anchor at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.

The world of local TV news now is vastly different from when Shelby began at WCCO.  Back then, there were prime time specials and "Moore on Sunday".  Within the newscasts, there was "Dimension" and the I-Team.  Now, because of corporate beancounters and networks' insistence on affiliates running their entire prime time schedules, we are left with "Good Question" and "Reality Check".  The news set is just a giant window overlooking a busy downtown Minneapolis street.  And on the 6 p.m. newscast, the anchors stand next to banks of monitors.

To paraphrase General Douglas MacArthur:  Old news anchors never die.  They just fade away.  Don Shelby chose to leave because (A) his contract was ending, and (B) he didn't want to be dragged out of the newsroom.  One question remains, now that he's signed off:  Have we really heard the last of Don Shelby?

Reassessing Our Contribution to Society

Image via WikipediaNow that the election's over (unless your name is Mark Dayton, Tom Emmer or Lisa Murkowski), it's time to take a step back and reassess where we are.

This is our 450th post since we began in 2007.  We have covered just about everything we wanted to cover, and some that we didn't.  Sometimes we strike a nerve with what we say, and other times you just couldn't care less.  That's how it is when you write a blog like this.

Lately we've noticed something.  We've had a flurry of sports-related posts mixed in with the election-related stuff, and that kind of got in the way of what our audience expects (other than very little).  You were expecting a Vikings piece, you got politics, and vice versa.  If you were expecting another picture of Lady Gaga . . . well, you're on your own.

To clear up any confusion, here's what we're going to do.  We just started a new blog called The Owljock Gazette, which has more of the same half-baked insights you've come to expect from The Bludog Chronicle, except it's about sports.  You'll find it at http://theowljockgazette.blogspot.com/.

Now we return you to your regular programming.

Freebies Aren't Free

It's Veterans Day.  Time to salute the troops with free meals from local restaurants, great seats at the stadium, and all the uncritical praise you'll ever want from an adoring government and news media.

There are at least three holidays devoted to the military (Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day).  For some reason, civilian holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July have been appropriated by the Pentagon to present televised greetings from soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Let's gloss over the fact that the United States is involved in two questionable wars right now, both fought overseas, and both having little to do with the actual defense of the nation.  Though there is a tendency to separate war from the warriors, it's just not possible.  If you support the troops, you're supporting the war whether you agree with it or not.

What does this tell us?  That soldiers are more valued than ordinary citizens whether we're at war or peace, even in a country with high unemployment, a struggling economy and a bloated federal deficit.

Freedom may not be free, as veterans like to remind the rest of us, but they're getting a lot of perks that you and I have no access to.  Do they deserve them?  And can the country afford to do this?

As an example, the Republicans have been hollering about government-run health care.  Well, what about the VA hospitals and all the other medical perks veterans get?  Are they willing to cut those?

If the GOP is serious about cutting the deficit, once they start wielding power in Congress, they should start with the military.  You know they won't do that because they are blinded by patriotism.  It's practically the third rail, along with Social Security, and no politician wants to touch that.

Let's be clear about one thing.  We are not disparaging the men and women who voluntarily defend this country from harm, or to provide humanitarian relief in times of disaster.  We just wish they weren't fighting and dying for the wrong reasons.

But when Johnny (or Janie) comes marching home, they should understand that just because they served their country, that doesn't make them better than anyone else.  The government, the chain restaurants and the rest of us should realize that, too.

The "Countdown" Resumes

Image via WikipediaAfter being suspended "indefinitely" for all of two programs, Keith Olbermann returned to his post as anchor of MSNBC's "Countdown" Tuesday night.

The reason for Olbermann's brief exile had to do with campaign contributions he made to three Democratic candidates, which is a no-no under NBC News policy.  Not unless he asked first.

Yes, MSNBC was justified in suspending Olbermann if you believe everyone who works there are impartial journalists and are supposed to steer clear of partisan politics.  After all, you wouldn't expect this type of behavior from Brian Williams of "NBC Nightly News".  But Olbermann has made his name in the last decade as a news anchor who turned "Countdown" into a forum for his liberal punditry, and has done very well with it.  MSNBC capitalized on that success by surrounding him in prime time with the likes of Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz and Lawrence O'Donnell as the progressive alternative to Fox News Channel.

There's a bit of hypocrisy here because some of FNC's commentators have been known to write checks to Republican candidates, and few care.  They also have possible 2012 presidential contenders Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee on the payroll.  Then again, FNC doesn't have the journalistic standards MSNBC does, even if they get the most viewers.

Now Olbermann can continue his nightly diatribes against the Tea Party, corporate political funding, journalistic lapses by Fox News, and other evils that conservatives do.  At least he won't be accused of not putting his money where his mouth is. 

What's missing is Olbermann's "Worst Person In The World" segment, which he dropped after Jon Stewart's wishful thinking rally to restore political sanity caused him to do some soul searching.  Doesn't he realize that this is what people tune in for?

MSNBC has been struggling to find an identity ever since they first went on the air.  Hosts such as Phil Donahue, Don Imus, Jesse Ventura, Tucker Carlson and Charles Grodin have come and gone without much success. With Comcast coming in (pending government approval), how long will it be before MSNBC re-invents itself yet again and kicks Olbermann, Maddow and company to the curb?

Let The Recount Begin . . . Again.

Image via WikipediaMinnesota is quickly becoming known as The Land of 10,000 Recounts.  Or it seems that way because Democrat Mark Dayton currently leads Republican Tom Emmer by some 8,000 votes, meaning we still don't know who's going to be the state's next governor.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who helped oversee the Norm Coleman-Al Franken Senate recount drama that took several months before Franken was declared the winner, promises us that things will be different this time.  The counting, he says, won't start until after Thanksgiving and may end around mid-December.

If only it were that simple.  Unless either candidate comes to their senses, the loser will almost certainly mount a legal challenge that could take the recount into 2011.    State GOP chair Tony Sutton, sounding like Tony Soprano, declared that his party is "not going to get rolled this time", and that "something doesn't smell right" because the Governorship was the only major statewide office they didn't win in a year which saw them sweep the Legislature.  Aren't we getting just a tad greedy here?

The longer the recount goes, the better it looks for Emmer--and for Governor Tim Pawlenty, who would be obligated by law to serve past his term until a winner is declared and certified.  With a Republican-controlled Legislature, a golden opportunity exists to pass laws trimming the size of government to almost nothing and finding new ways to fund programs without resorting to pesky taxes.  With Pawlenty still in office, he could be the table-setter for Emmer, even if it does put a crimp in his plans to run for President.

As for such issues as abortion rights and same sex marriages, expect the new Legislature to pass state constitutional laws against them.

If Dayton wins the recount, how far he gets with his plans to increase taxes on the wealthy without much help from his fellow DFLers remains to be seen.  He might be Pawlenty in reverse, vetoing bills that cut funding and risking a government shutdown.

Both Dayton and Emmer deserve praise for not declaring themselves the winner.  But whoever prevails in the recount and takes the oath of office sometime in 2011 will not have a mandate, with both candidates getting less than fifty percent of the vote.  The challenge for whoever the new governor is to refrain from governing as if he had one.  That would not serve him well come 2014.

Vikings' Ship of Fools

Image via WikipediaBefore the National Football League season started, most of the so-called football experts believed that the Minnesota Vikings had enough talent to make a run at the Super Bowl after being one game short the previous year.  Most of the principal players were returning, and quarterback Brett Favre was persuaded to give it one more shot.

Now?  Two months into the season, instead of leading the NFC North division, the Vikings are 2-5 and making the playoffs has become a question mark.  One reason is that the defense is not as good, giving up too many yards and points.  Another is the distractions provided by marquee players owner Zygi Wilf paid a pretty penny to get.

Take Favre, whose body is breaking down as he's turning 41.  He was reluctant to play this season because his ankle was slow to heal after surgery.  The first few games showed not only how unprepared he was after skipping training camp, but also becoming an easy target for opponents' defenses.

After injuring the ankle (again), people urged coach Brad Childress to start Tavaris Jackson in last week's game against the New England Patriots.  But when game time arrived, there was Favre taking the snaps.  He played most of the game until he was knocked out in the jaw and required stitches, which looked a lot worse in TV replays than it really was.

No matter how battered and bruised Favre is, he's always ready to play the following week.  That's an admirable trait in a violent sport, but it could land him in an assisted living facility long before his time.

Off the field, Favre's under investigation by the NFL for allegedly sending lewd pictures and messages to sideline reporter Jenn Sterger when he was with the New York Jets.  Favre has never said anything publicly about this, and neither has Sterger.  But the possibility exists that he could be fined and/or suspended under the league's personal conduct policy.

Then there's Randy Moss, whose second tour of duty with the Vikings lasted four games. 

Moss, who was supposed to be the final piece to a championship puzzle, instead set a record for quickly wearing out a welcome.  He didn't play hard, at least not to the coaches' satisfaction.  He's fined for not speaking to the media after a game, then interviews himself after the next one, in which he expressed his loyalty to his former Patriots teammates.  He dissed the food being served by a local caterer during a team meal, saying he wouldn't give it to his dog.  Talented player, yes.  Classy individual, no.

For this, the Vikings gave up a third round pick to the Patriots.  Coach Bill Belichick must have been laughing his hoodie off, playing the Vikings for suckers just like the Dallas Cowboys did two decades ago when they gave up Herschel Walker for draft picks that led to Super Bowl championships.

It shouldn't have been a surprise when Childress finally had enough of Moss and got rid of him on waivers.  Moss has since been picked up by the Tennessee Titans.  Let's see how long it takes him to stir things up in Nashville.

Moss' departure could be the beginning if the Vikings don't make the playoffs.  Wilf could decide to clean house and get rid of Favre, Childress and any other underperforming high-priced player.  Leading the league in off-the-field headlines is not the way to win a championship. 

Election 2010: The Aftermath

Image via WikipediaAlmost from the beginning of Barack Obama's presidency, the Republicans developed a strategy to take back control of the government they had lost in the 2008 elections.

As the minority party in Congress, the GOP would start acting like spoiled children screaming "NO! NO! NO!"  for every program Obama and the Democrats put up, while seldom coming up with a better solution of their own.  The Democrats, like any overwhelmed parent, could do little more than to give the GOP kids what they wanted so peace could be maintained.

Couple that with an angry public dealing with unemployment and bank foreclosures, wondering why the change they had voted for in 2008 was slow in coming.  And a Tea Party movement that wanted less government and no new taxes made itself felt in the candidates that ran for office, even if there were some colorful characters mixed in.

Also, the GOP had a little help from the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that corporations can contribute directly to political campaigns.  Thus the attack ads funded by front organizations with anonymous donors that filled our TV screens, blaming Obama and the Democratic leadership for the mess we're in.

The strategy worked.  Tuesday the Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives.  Democrats regained the Senate, but by a slimmer margin.  John Boehner, the GOP congressman from Ohio, will be taking the gavel as the new Speaker of the House from Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from California.

After all the progress made in this past session of Congress (and there was, believe it or not), things are likely to grind to a halt in the next session.  Despite talk of conciliation between the President and the GOP leadership and the solemn pledges to take the people's wishes seriously, we know there's not going to be any of the sort.  Mitch McConnell, the Senate's minority leader from Kentucky, recently went on record as saying the GOP's top priority is to make Obama a one-term president.

In spite of Jon Stewart's best efforts to lower the temperature of political discourse, we are currently living in the Era of Mean.  And it's only going to get worse because we're two years away from the 2012 presidential election.

***

In Minnesota, the GOP tidal wave washed over the Legislature, with that party in control of both the House and Senate for the first time ever.

They also scored an upset in the Eighth Congressional District with previously unknown Chip Cravaack taking down longtime Democrat Jim Oberstar.  Otherwise, most of the other incumbents were re-elected to their congressional seats.

As for the governor's race, did someone say recount?  We need one again because Democrat Mark Dayton only holds a 9,000-vote lead over his Republican opponent Tom Emmer.  More on this in a future post.

Champions In The City By The Bay

Image via WikipediaThe San Francisco Giants have endured a lot since the franchise moved from New York in 1958.  They've had great players such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Will Clark pass through there.  They've played in a drafty ballpark called Candlestick, nearly moved out of town to either Toronto or Tampa Bay, and watched Barry Bonds set home run records under a cloud of suspicion.

The Giants have been to the World Series three times since winning their last title at the Polo Grounds in 1954, losing all three times.  Meanwhile, their hated rivals to the south, the Los Angeles Dodgers, have won five world championships in nine appearances since moving to California with the Giants.

But now the city of cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge have a World Series title to call their own, with the Giants defeating the Texas Rangers in five games behind the pitching of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and closer Brian Wilson.  The hitting star was Edgar Renteria, who was named the Series' MVP.

Major League Baseball must have been thrilled that the Giants are the ninth different team in the last decade to win a championship.  Not so much for Fox.  With no Yankees to promote, this World Series stands to become one of the least-watched in history.  Even the NFL prime time games drew more viewers than baseball.

With the Series going into November, MLB lucked out weatherwise with games being played in the milder climes of Arlington, Texas and San Francisco.  No parkas were necessary, unless you needed it as a Halloween costume.

One sour note:  Is it really necessary for MLB to jam "God Bless America" down our throats during the seventh-inning stretch?  With the country so divided politically, MLB seems to have sided with Republicans and Tea Partiers in pretending it's still September 11, 2001 somewhere.  We've moved on, and so should they.

Now that San Francisco has a baseball title, who's next?  Seattle?  Washington?  Cleveland?  Maybe even the Chicago Cubs?  One can only dream.

Election 2010: It's Almost Over

Image via WikipediaHere in Minnesota, we don't have politicians who avoid the mainstream media, denied ever being a witch, threatened violence or run racist attack ads against their opponent.  None of that Tea Party craziness for us, thanks.

Oh wait.  We have Michele Bachmann.

The Third District Republican Congresswoman (and conservative superstar) is favored to keep her seat against Democratic challenger Tarryl Clark, but only after spending millions of dollars on some of the worst campaign ads ever seen in these parts.  "Mount Spendmore"?  "Jim the Election Guy"?  "Taxin' Tarryl"?

Clark has responded with her own ads claiming that Bachmann is more interested in being a publicity hound than in serving her constituents, but it may be too little and too late.  Clark has a better shot two years from now, should Bachmann decide to run against Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The Minnesota governor's race has been relatively civil, with all three major candidates--Democrat Mark Dayton, Republican Tom Emmer and Tom Horner of the Independence Party--leaving the attack ads to well-heeled outsiders (unknown or not) while debating countless times over the past few weeks.

This race is Dayton's to lose, unless he says or does something stupid.  His record as a U.S. Senator shows he's done a little of both. 

Emmer has been campaigning as an outsider in comparison to his rivals, even though he's been a state legislator for the past several years.  In his ads, Emmer comes across as a Hollywood tough guy, willing to pick a fight against those who cross him regarding tax cuts and government spending.  But do Minnesotans really want a bully as their governor?

Horner's message that he's not as extreme to the left or right as Dayton and Emmer are have won him endorsements from nearly every newspaper in the state, as well as from former Governors Arne Carlson and Jesse Ventura.  But Horner doesn't have much of a chance because (A) he's not as flamboyant as Ventura, (B) he's too close to his public relations clients and won't reveal who they are, and (C) a vote for him is really a vote for the other guy.

Now a word about the Third District congressional race between Republican Erik Paulsen and Democrat Jim Meffert.  Incumbent Paulsen is the heir to Bill Frenzel and Jim Ramstad, Republicans who had the respect of rivals and constituents alike.  So why is Paulsen resorting to attack ads against Meffert, who because of limited finances restricts himself to a website and media appearances?  Paulsen has since come out with more positive ads, but the damage has already been done.

Tuesday, November 2nd, is the day when the final chapter of this election takes place.  It is to be written by we, the people, who march down to our polling places and decide the fate of the men and women who want to lead this state and nation.  But before you do that, study up on the candidates and make up your own mind.  Don't take our word for it, or those ads on TV.  See you after the election.

Promoting Fear and Balance

Image by Fairfax County Public Library via FlickrUnless you're an avid consumer of public radio and/or cable news, you've probably never heard of Juan Williams before last week.  Isn't he the guy who got fired from NPR (National Public Radio) as a news analyst for saying on TV that Muslims in traditional garb make him nervous when they share the same plane flight?

Williams said that during one of his appearances on the Fox News Channel, where he serves as a commentator.  NPR let him go because he was derelict in his duties, so they say.  So what's the difference between a commentator and a news analyst, you ask?  It depends on the employer.  FNC likes to think of itself as "fair and balanced", so long as its news coverage and the commentators who appear on it tilt to the right.  NPR is more in the traditional mode, where they tend to report the news straight and their analysts are supposed to hide their biases.  In other words, to conservatives, they're just another liberal network.

Leaving aside questions about this latest example of Islamophobia, promoting fear does have its rewards.  Williams, generally considered to be a liberal as well as being one of the few African-American faces on FNC, was just offered a new contract to remain as the resident punching bag for Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc.

Because of this incident, Republicans are threatening to cut NPR's federal funding when the next Congress convenes.  Conservatives would like nothing better than to see public broadcasting die.  And replace it with what?  They already have their own bullhorns in FNC and talk radio to shove down people's throats.

Pledge drives, as much as we loathe them, have never been better for NPR's member stations despite the Williams dismissal.  That said, why does NPR allow its people to appear on a network known for demonizing liberals?  And why was Williams tossed out with the trash without so much as a warning?  Does he not have a First Amendment right to say what he thinks at the risk of getting fired?

Fox News shouldn't be covering themselves with glory in this matter, either.  They are the most-watched of all the cable news channels, whether it's for regular programming or breaking news.  They have become, more or less, the house organ for the GOP.  But they are also the most reckless in its attitudes toward anyone who doesn't agree with them, and who in their view are a danger to the American Way of Life..  That's why Juan Williams has a job there, to reinforce those attitudes without having to keep his biases in check.

A Tale of Two NBA Teams

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAll eyes are on the Miami Heat as the NBA tips off its 2010-11 season.  The time has come to prove that three big stars--LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh--can play together as well as coexist together.  All for one and one for all, right?  Right?

The passions (to put it mildly) caused by James' nationally-televised decision to ditch his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for South Beach are still reverberating.  James has gone from a hero with no championships to a villain (outside of Miami, of course) whose new team has the potential of winning several, just like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and golfer Tiger Woods.

The Heat won't win every game this season because (A) we have a long way to go between now and April, (B) the possibility of injuries and playing less than their best on the court, and (C) there are other teams that can play just as well (or better) than they can on a given night.  As for whether the Heat can win the NBA title, who knows?  The Yankees aren't going to the World Series, the Cowboys are having a lousy NFL season, and Woods is having the kind of year he (and we) would like to forget.

On the other end of the spectrum lies the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose general manager David Kahn took out full-page newspaper ads to tell us that the team won't make the playoffs this season.  Whether it's supposed to be a motivational tool or not for his players, that'll really do wonders for ticket sales and TV ratings, won't it?

Kahn has moved so many players since he took over the Wolves that the only constants remaining are Kevin Love and coach Kurt Rambis.  The rest are relative newcomers, including Michael Beasley (from Miami, of all places) and Darko Milicic, who will try and bring the Wolves to respectability.

The Wolves had one of the worst records in the NBA last season.  So the only question is, how bad will it get this year?  One encouraging sign:  They were 6-2 in the preseason, including a win over the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in London.  But then, Kobe Bryant only played a few minutes due to injuries.  And teams usually tend to rest their best players against the Wolves.  When the regular season starts, they'll be back to their old selves again.

Enjoy this season because it looks as if next season the NBA might go the same way as the NFL, threatening to lock out its players while negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.  It may sound like rhetoric right now, but commissioner David Stern is reportedly talking about cutting back on players' salaries as well as contracting a few teams.  If Stern's serious about the latter, then Minnesota's a good place to start if things don't improve on and off the court.

Here's who we think will be playing past the regular season:

EAST  Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards.

WEST  Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs.

Change Has Come to "Gopher Nation"

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeIt's been 50 years since the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers last won a national championship in football.  And it's been almost that long since the program has been anything but mediocre, with coaches coming and going, promising a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl but could only deliver on postseason trips to Phoenix or Nashville.

The latest coach to lead the Gopher faithful down the primrose path and getting burned is Tim Brewster, who had the dubious honor of being the first to get fired midway through the season.  His replacement, at least temporarily, is offensive coordinator Jeff Horton.

Brewster, who was hired with no previous head coaching experience (he was an assistant with the NFL Denver Broncos), certainly proved himself to be a motivator and a recruiter.  As a coach, not so much.

The Gophers won their opening game this season against Middle Tennessee State, then dropped the next six.  You don't lose to smaller schools such as South Dakota and Northern Illinois--at home, no less--and expect to keep your job.  After the loss to Purdue, university officials apparently decided enough was enough.

Overall, Brewster's teams were 15-30 with a bowl appearance or two sandwiched into a four-year period.  Of importance to Gopher fans, if not to anybody else, is that Brewster failed to win any of the so-called "trophy games" against their Big Ten rivals:  the Floyd of Rosedale against Iowa, the Axe against Wisconsin, and the Little Brown Jug against Michigan.  Of course, the Gophers have trouble winning these "trophies" no matter who the coach is.

Now the search begins for a new coach for the 2011 season.  Presumably, the ideal candidate should have had prior head coaching experience and have an excellent track record.  Tony Dungy, we hear, is reportedly not interested.

There are some who believe that Athletic Director Joel Maturi, the man who hired Brewster and who is on the hot seat himself, shouldn't be involved in the decision-making this time.  But he did bring in Tubby Smith, the man who led Kentucky to a national title in 1998, to be his men's basketball coach.

Ultimately, though, it takes more than a new coach or a new stadium to bring back the days of Bernie Bierman, Paul Giel or Sandy Stephens.  You have to have talent to compete in a conference like the Big Ten (which is adding Nebraska next year), and the Gophers don't have a whole lot of it.  Even high school football stars from Minnesota would rather go elsewhere than play for good ol' Ski-U-Mah.  That's what 50 years of mediocrity can do to a football program at the biggest university in the state.  The next coach has his work cut out for him.

Trouble In Eden (Prairie, That Is)

Everybody, whether they have children in school or not, seems to have an opinion on the quality of education they're getting.  It's where they're getting it that's another story.

Here in Eden Prairie, where a national magazine recently declared it the best city in America, the local school district announced a proposal to redraw the boundaries so that some children who currently go to one of the five elementary schools near where they live will be bused to another school somewhere else.  That would start with the 2011-12 school year.

The district claims they did this to ease the overcrowding of some schools, so they're going to even things up by moving at least 1000 kids to less-populated schools.  Oh, and the demographics needed to be changed to accommodate the various schools' free-to-reduced lunch program.

Some parents, who question the need to send their "little darlings" on a 25-30 minute commute across town when they could be walking to school in their own neighborhood, have responded  by threatening to pull their kids out of the district and moving elsewhere.

For those of us with long memories, doesn't this sound like what happened in the 1970s, when courts ordered big-city school districts to bus students to the suburbs to achieve racial balance?

As a former student who attended Eden Prairie schools in the 1960s and '70s, I could count the number of minority students with one hand  Maybe two.  Eden Prairie has grown a lot more diverse since then, but it's still overwhelmingly white.  Maybe that's why some parents don't want their children to be bused somewhere else.  Maybe they don't want them to know about "those other people".

The Eden Prairie School Board, led by Superintendent Melissa Krull, hasn't helped their cause by cutting parents (or anyone else) out of the loop on this issue.  They've been accused in the past, mainly by disgruntled parents and one of the local suburban newspapers, of alleged violations of Minnesota's open meeting laws and allegedly hiding behind the Data Practices Act every time someone wants information.  Now they may have resorted to this for legal reasons, which is fine.  But when you're accountable to the public, deciding the future of your children's education with something like this smells like a backroom deal gone bad.

No, not everything is perfect here in The Best City In America.  People want what's best for their kids, whether they're willing to pay through the nose for it or not.  They just don't like being told that they can't send their kids to a school that's close by, and are willing to take to the streets to prove their point.  But what are the kids learning?  That the actions of adults will have a big influence in their upbringing, and that they are powerless to stop it?

Pink Is The New Green

Image via WikipediaDid you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

How could you not?  The color of pink seems to be everywhere.  From yogurt cups and lipstick to NFL football players and the Sunday comics, the concept of being aware about breast cancer is at an all-time high.  Sometimes it gets to the point where you need another kind of pink--Pepto Bismol.

There's no mystery about why we're hearing more about breast cancer.  It's one of the leading killers of women.  So it shouldn't take much for them to self-examine themselves, then go to their nearest health professional if they find anything wrong, particularly if they're over 40 and/or have a family history of the disease.

Companies, even those who don't normally cater to women, have seized upon the pink and the ribbons not just to raise awareness, but to line their own pockets while making themselves look good.  Because breast cancer affects women.  And women buy stuff, thinking the money raised will help speed along the promise of a cure.

(If you're a man, seeing one of those products with a pink ribbon on it would have the same effect as a best-seller with the "Oprah's Book Club" label on it, or most of prime time TV.  You tend to stay away from them.)

It makes you wonder about all those other diseases besides breast cancer that have been begging for money for decades in the name of "research".  How come we are no closer to a cure for any of those than we were before, as millions more die every year?  Why the tease?

No matter how the new federal health care laws shake out (or even if the Republicans carry out their promise to gut them once they take over Congress after the elections), the insurance and pharmaceutical companies still have the upper hand.  Why, there could be cures for so many diseases that may have already been discovered.  But Big Insurance and Big Pharma could be keeping them under wraps because, with the money rolling in for so-called "research", why mess with a good thing?  Besides, if these cures were really available, the cost would be so exorbitant that few could afford them.

Thanks to social media, nearly everybody knows somebody who may or may not have survived breast cancer.  What we don't need are corporations and organizations who exploit and trivialize the seriousness of the disease just to make a buck.  Don't these women and their loved ones deserve better?

Twins 2010: Good, But Not Good Enough

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Minnesota Twins ended their season just like they ended some of their seasons in the past decade--losing to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series for the second consecutive year. 

While the Yankees will always be a team with a billion dollars' worth of talent playing at a high level, the Twins will continue to be a cut-and-paste operation reliant on minor leaguers and whatever players makes sense fiscally to management in the free agent market, new ball park or not.

Actually, the Twins' shortcomings became apparent long before getting swept by the Yankees.  Yes, they won the American League Central title for the second consecutive year with a record of 94-68, on the strength of having the best record in a division of bad or mediocre teams.  But the Twins won only two game since clinching the division.  And their record against the Yankees and the rest of the American League East was so abysmal, even the last-place Baltimore Orioles took a few games from them.

In the Year of the Pitcher in the major leagues, the Twins did not have a dominating arm, although Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano came close.  With reliever Joe Nathan sitting out the year because of surgery, Matt Capps--brought in here from the Washington Nationals, which explains a lot about that franchise--did a nice job as a fill-in closer.  Jesse Crain and Scott Baker reinvented themselves as effective middle relievers after no longer cutting it as starters.

The one free agent that really paid dividends for the Twins was Jim Thome.  His towering home runs at Target Field and elsewhere enabled him to surpass Harmon Killebrew and Mark McGwire in the post-steroids era career record book.  Never mind that Thome is 40 and needs a pinch runner for those times when he hits a ball inside the park.

Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Delmon Young and Jason Kubel had good years at the plate, even as it became obvious that Target Field was becoming a hitters' park for the other team.

Injuries have also been a factor.  Justin Morneau hasn't played since suffering a concussion in a July game at Toronto.  Joe Mauer has been in and out of the lineup, which prevented him from racking up his usual MVP-caliber stats.

Those in the know are talking up the possibility that Ron Gardenhire would finally be named the American League's Manager of the Year, after having been passed over several times.  But after what's happened to the team the past few weeks, don't be shocked if the honor goes to someone else again.

The Twins will contend for the Central Division crown again in 2011.  If they want to bring a world championship to Minnesota, they'd better have the kind of talent that can compete with all of the American League teams, not just two thirds of them.  Can they afford to do that?

The Return of Randy Moss

Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Vikings have stumbled out of the gate this season with a 1-2 record, beating only the Detroit Lions (who should be 4-0 instead of 0-4).  The offense has been listless, and the defense not much better.  Fortunately for them, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are not going to run away with the NFC North division title.  But the Vikings needed to do something.

Then quarterback Brett Favre got a nice 41st birthday present:  the wide receiver he's always wanted since his days as a Packer.  Randy Moss is back in town.

The New England Patriots surprised the rest of the National Football League by trading Moss back to the Vikings, where he had starred from 1998 to 2004, for draft picks. 

Moss is one of the most exciting wide receivers the NFL has seen, when he's on.  But he's burned his bridges everywhere he went--from Minnesota to the Oakland Raiders to New England--because of his "I play when I want to play" attitude and his antics on and off the field. 

Bill Belichick, who likes to run a tight ship as coach of the Patriots, must have gotten tired of Moss' antics and his lack of production on the field.  So he would rather sacrifice his team's offense than put up with it.

For the Vikings, this latest example of owner Zygi Wilf's willingness to acquire name-brand talent is born of desperation.  He wants a Super Bowl.  He wants a Metrodome filled with purple.  He wants a new stadium. (Not necessarily in that order)  And the sooner, the better.

One would think that Moss, in his second tour of duty in Minnesota, has grown older and wiser at 33.    Then again, maybe not.  The rest of the season will determine if Moss has anything left to offer, or if the Vikings just traded for a nostalgia act.

For The Wild, "X" Might Miss the Playoff Spot

Image via WikipediaThis is the Minnesota Wild's 10th season in the National Hockey League (skipping over the 2004-05 season that never was).  With the exception of the 2003 run to the Western Conference finals, most of their short history has been as a one-and-done playoff team, if they got there at all.

Thanks to the combination of Jacques Lemaire's defense-first coaching and Doug Risebrough's conservative roster moves during most of the decade, current general manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Todd Richards are stuck in a box.  They couldn't choose difference-makers because of high draft numbers, and they couldn't sign veterans who aren't on the decline.  Thus, the Wild did not make the playoffs last season.  This year, they face another uphill battle.

Minnesota's new additions include Matt Cullen, John Madden (no relation to the former TV football commentator) and Brad Staubitz, who was brought in to replace departed enforcer--and fan favorite--Derek Boogaard.

Injuries still haunt the Wild.  Pierre-Marc Bouchard is recovering from a concussion that kept him from playing most of last season.  James Shepard was hurt in an ATV accident and won't return until midseason.  Goaltender Josh Harding was injured during a preseason game at St. Louis, so veteran netminder Jose Theodore has been signed to back up Niklas Backstrom.

To stay competitive, the Wild will need scoring from Mikko Koivu and Guillaume Latendresse, among others.  Enough scoring, that is, to avoid having to go into a shootout every night.

For nine season, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul has been sold out for every Wild game.  That may not be the case this season, as fans are getting tired of seeing their team perpetually struggling on the ice.  And they will continue to struggle without a playoff berth to show for it.

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The Chicago Blackhawks will try to defend its Stanley Cup title in spite of the exodus of many of its top players, reminding one of baseball's Florida Marlins.  After that team won World Series titles in 1997 and 2003, they got rid of most of its players and tanked in the standings for a few years.  If that happened to the Hawks, the Cubs might win the World Series before the Cup takes up residence in the Windy City again.

Here's who we think will still be playing in mid-April:

WEST  Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators.

EAST  Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Atlanta Thrashers.

"Baseball" Could Have Used Another Inning

Image by Getty Images via @daylife"The Tenth Inning", Ken Burns' follow-up to his 1994 film "Baseball", ran for four hours over two nights on PBS.  In all that time to cover the last two decades of the sport, he didn't touch all the bases.

Just like racism was the underlying theme of the original documentary, steroids and its effects on the game served that role here.  Barry Bonds, suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs while eclipsing Hank Aaron's career home run record (for which Bonds still hasn't answered that question to anyone's satisfaction), was presented by Burns as a tragic hero.

The strike of '94, Cal Ripken Jr.'s consecutive game streak, the home run chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire (which turned out to be a mirage), 9/11, the Boston Red Sox finally winning a World Series, and the congressional steroid hearings were all adequately covered.  But Burns could have added these:

• An attempt by Major League Baseball to contract teams that couldn't compete financially or on the field, in which the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos were the most likely victims.  It failed, but the Expos did leave Canada in 2005 to become the Washington Nationals.
• In 1997, Major League Baseball honored the career of Jackie Robinson, its first African-American player, by retiring his number 42.
• The decline of African-Americans playing in the majors, who opted instead for the big money and instant gratification of football and basketball.

Inevitably, the fortunes of the Red Sox and New York Yankees got extensive play in "Tenth Inning", being the two most dominant franchises on and off the field since the strike.  There were other players and teams who made their mark during this period.  But unless you played the Red Sox or Yankees in the World Series (or Bonds and the San Francisco Giants in 2002), you hardly rated a mention with Burns.

"Baseball:  The Tenth Inning", for all its flaws, remains a valuable document on the history of the game.  But if Ken Burns ever decides to do an "Eleventh Inning", he might want to look beyond Boston and New York for material.

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Oh, one more thing.  We foresee a rematch between the Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies in this year's World Series.

Let's Talk About . . . Climate Change!

Image via WikipediaFor the past few years, we've been inundated with all sorts of predictions about what would happen if we didn't do anything about cutting the gases responsible for global warming.  Such as:  The polar ice caps will melt, meaning those cute polar bears from the Coke ads would become extinct.  New York and San Francisco will be underwater.  Alaska would become a tropical paradise.  Exotic insects and diseases will migrate north.  Summers will be hotter and storms will be stormier.  For further details, please rent the movie "The Day After Tomorrow".

There are also those who think climate change is just a bunch of liberal hooey, perpetuated by former Vice President Al Gore, who also claimed to have invented the Internet.  They seem to believe that the earth's climate is proceeding as it should, and that nothing should prevent them from business as usual.  That's why these people have blocked every meaningful attempt to control warming, because things can't be that bad, right?  Oh, and these people also happen to be some of the world's most powerful corporations, with politicians in their back pocket.

Here's a couple of weather-related headlines from the recent past:

• Los Angeles hit a record high of 113 degrees Monday.  It would have been higher, but the thermometer at the local National Weather Service office broke.
• Heavy rains caused massive flooding and damage across the Upper Midwest, just as fall arrived.  Rivers south of the Twin Cities are expected to crest into the weekend.
• Climatologists tell us that 2010 is well on its way to becoming one of the warmest years on the planet on record.  Just like it's been every year this century.

We've said this before, but it bears repeating.  If there's a viable alternative to oil and other fossil fuels out there, we'd love to hear about it.  Right now, there just isn't.  And all the alternative energy in the world--wind and solar power, ethanol and electric cars--won't make a dent in improving the climate if people don't find them practical for their own situations.

Obviously, those who do not believe in climate change don't see that it's not about what the weather is like outside their windows.  It's about what happens to the climate years down the road.  The decisions we make (or don't make) today will go a long way toward determining if we want future generations to live in a real life version of a bad disaster movie.

Local Radio Caught In a "Bad Romance"

Image via WikipediaIn an age of You Tube, mp3 players and cell phones, there's more than one way to get your music.  For those who prefer things the old-fashioned way, or if you're one of those who can't afford all those cool gadgets, there's still radio.

In the Twin Cities, the local FM music stations (mostly owned by the Three C's--Citadel, CBS and Clear Channel) have been coping with budget cuts caused by declining audiences and ad revenues.  They've replaced deejays with "voice trackers" from out of town, and audio jukeboxes interrupted only by long sets of commercials.

The results of such trimmings?  Read on:

K102 (102.1) is the current number one station in town, according to the latest radio ratings.  Apparently, Minnesotans like right-wing country music.

KQRS (92.5) has dropped to third place after so many years at the top, an indication that classic rock has finally had its day.  Tom Barnard still rules mornings, even if he does broadcast his show from home, isolated from his on-air cohorts.

KS95 (94.5) now bills itself as "Variety--90's, 2K and Today", having dropped the 80s from its playlist.  They might diss icons like Neil Diamond in its commercials, but they still specialize in made-for-the-minivan music.  Colbie Calliat and Rob Thomas, sure.  But what's "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga doing here?

KDWB (101.3), which has been in the Top 40 business for over 50 years (not that they like to admit it), has responded to the challenge of new competitor KHTC (96.3) by posting its best ratings ever.

Obviously, the definition of 'light rock' at WLTE (102.9) has changed over the years.  The Bee Gees, Lionel Richie and Phil Collins have given way to Boston, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.  Does that sound like 'light rock' to you?  Or are they transitioning to a new format, to be revealed after the holidays?

The rumors of Jack FM's (104.1) demise have so far been exaggerated, as their audio jukebox keeps rolling along.

The Love 105 stations (105.1, 105.3 and 105.7) win kudos for having the best mix of oldies around.  So why won't they admit that they're an oldies station?

The identity crisis at KQQL (107.9) continues.  Now the geniuses at Clear Channel have hung the "Classic Hits" tag on them, a format that has failed twice elsewhere.

So, does anyone still listen to music on the radio these days?