Best Anti-War Argument Of The Day

My friend, Girl Who Knits, has an extremely liberal mother and an extremely conservative father. This makes out for some great political debates and with the ongoing war in Iraq, the conversations have been extraordinarily fiesty of late. My favorite line so far comes from said mother: "As a fiscal conservative, doesn't it bother you that we dropped sixty billion dollars worth of bombs in Baghdad today?"

Right Field Controversy?

The Minnesota Twins won their season opener for the third straight season with a 3-1 victory over the Detriot Tigers at a chilly Comerica Field behind a superb pitching performance from Brad Radke. Quick starting Dustin Mohr is perhaps trying to ignite another right-field controversy after going 2-3 with a two-run homerun. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire seems intent on giving youngster Michael Cuddyer most of the starts in right field this year, despite the good play of Mohr and Bobby Kielty last year. Mohr got the start on opening day because Cuddyer was filling in for an injured Corey Koskie at third base.

Humphries Honored
Despite the fact that Hopkins senior Kris Humphries was unable to cap his senior season with a second straight state boys basketball championship, the Duke recruit has deservedly received several honors and national exposure over the past two weeks.
On March 23 Humphries was named Mr. Basketball, an award given to the most talented senior in the state every year.
Humphries beat out teammate Dan Coleman, Minneapolis North players Kammron Taylor and Kevin Henderson, Eric Webb of Grand Rapids and Lawrence McKenzie of Minneapolis Henry.
On March 25 Humphries was recognized as the AP Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Teammates Coleman and Darren Clarke were named honorable mention.
Finally on March 26 Humphries played in front of 18,728 fans at Gund Arena in Cleveland at the McDonald’s All-American game.
Humphries scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds for the West, which lost to high school phenom LeBron James and the East squad 122-107.
James, who scored 27 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, is thought to be on his way to becoming the number one pick in this year’s NBA draft.
Humphries and his family haven given notions that he might consider entering the NBA draft this season as well, but for now he is still slated to go to Duke next season.
The Blue Devils lost to Kansas in the sweet sixteen of the NCAA tournament last week, largely due to the fact that they lacked a strong inside presence.
If Humphries continues to work on his game this summer, he could have an excellent chance to step in and play quality minutes for head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

United States 24 Iraq 7 - 3rd Quarter

Is anyone else annoyed with the fact that the media and American public seem to be treating the war in Iraq as a sporting event? I get the feeling the average American treats every new day of bombing as a new "game." I also get the feeling that many people don't want to be bothered with details of war strategy or stories of civilian deaths. They simply want to know the score. In other words, did we kill more today than they did and are we closer to tackling, ew-hem, I mean capturing Sadam Hussein. This bottom line way of thinking is apparent because our economy fluctuates depending on what news stories are reported the most that day. This is ridiculous. War is not a game. I know this is hard to take for many of you, especially if you like your war movies. If your sense of war comes from movies like Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot and Black Hawk Down you would think that the secret to winning a war is much like shredding a 3-4 defense in the NFL toward a winning touchdown. If you're going to be a conscious war observer, know a little more about it than the rising death count and how many kilometers the U.S. troops are away from the center of Baghdad.

Just Be Honest

The Bush administration would do itself a huge favor if they would just be honest about how things are coming along according to plans in Iraq. After Amercians got the sense that this was going to be a short war, I get the feeling that the Bush administration now feels it can no longer admit when things go wrong. Some people including Army general William Wallace have admitted that just one week into the war, they are already fighting a different war than they had planned for. However whenever Rumsfeld and Ari Fleisher take the stand all they are willing to say is that everything is going as planned. Bullshit. I don't believe that and I don't think most of the educated public believes that. I just want to tell GW that it's OK if we have a setback or two. Just admit it! After all this is the U.S. armed forces we're talking about, not the New York Yankees.

Anti-war or Anti-school?

If I'm one of these anti-war protesters yesterday I might get a little weary of the cause I'm fighting for when I look around and notice that 75% of the people standing around me are 18 years old or younger. I'm not saying that young adults can't be educated and have an opinion on world events, but some of these teenagers get interviewed on television and it becomes quite obvious that they have no idea why they are protesting the war except for the fact that it means they don't have to be sitting in algebra class. The media continues to toss out numbers of people attending these anti-war protests, but I don't think half of them really know why they're there.

Breaking News!


Basically I just wanted to be like Fox News or MSNBC and put a tacky bold headline up in red letters. Unfortunately I never figured out how to get the ticking down clock for Saddam's deadline like MSNBC did. I wonder how long it takes these network big whigs to decide what their big motto is going to be for world events like a war. I mean you can go with the always affective cheesy rhyme like "Attack on Iraq." Or you can try to have every word start with the same letter like "Showdown With Saddam," which is also very eye catching. After all these are the important aspects of this whole conflict right?

The Average Legacy

The University of Minnesota men's basketball team took another step towards becoming the most average basketball program in the country. The Gophers continued their annual dominance in the NIT last night with a thrilling ten point victory over the St. Louis Billekens. Early reports show that about five people were tuning in for the game, all of which had the last name Monson.

You Cant Make This Up

Two days ago I was shopping in the posh suburb of Edina at the Southdale Mall. While standing in line waiting to check out at (insert whispering voice here) The Gap, I was forced to stick my finger down my throat and heave everything out of my stomach because I was so disgusted. Two Edina-ites, who I will stereotype as wealthy homemakers, proceeded to have a five minute conversation in front of me about how they hope the war in Iraq will not "ruin their spring break vacations." The two women got so caught up in the conversation that after the cashier had finished ringing up several hundred dollars worth of clothes, he had to ask the woman three times how she was planning on paying for the items before he was heard. I guess that's what war boils down to nowdays for the average suburbanite! You can't make it up!

Make BYU Play on Sunday

In my opinion the NCAA should tell Brigham Young University that if they want to enjoy the perks of playing in the the most prestigous collegiate basketball tournament that they can find a way to play basketball on a Sunday. I don't remember the NFL changing the date of the Super Bowl for the likes of Mormon's Jim McMahon and Steve Young. Other team's shouldn't be forced to change their schedule and perhaps fly all around the country so BYU won't have to play on Sunday. It's called separation of church and state. Deal with it!

The Need For 3

The Minnesota State High School League needs to take a serious look at hiring three referees for each basketball game. If not during the regular season, the MSHSL should at least have three refs for section playoff and state tournament games. This was never more evident to me that two weeks ago when Park Center and Hopkins faced off in a section final game. The two teams played a very fast pace style of basketball and the two officials were obviously having trouble keeping up with the pace of the game. We owe it to these student athletes to have three officials not only so the game is called fairly, but for the safety of the players.

A Crowded Soapbox

Is anybody else dreading the upcoming Academy Awards for the sole fact that every actor and actress who steps up to the microphone is going to feel the need to tell us how they feel about the war in Iraq. I don't care if we have to sew Susan Sarandon's mouth shut, I don't want to hear phony speech after phony speech about how peace is the answer. If you want to have a say in how our country is run, run for office!

What's Happening To My Liberal State

If you thought Minnesota was a fortress of liberal ideas, you would be shocked if you were at the Minnesota State Capitol at anytime in the past week. First, republican representative Arlon Lindner managed to piss off just about every minority group in the state in a matter of about five paragraphs of speech. Lindner claims that stripping gays and lesbians of state human rights protections will save America from "becoming another African continent." Lindner also said on the floor of the state capitol that Nazi perescution of gays and lesbians is "a new idea spawned by a lot of rewriting of history." Governor Tim Pawlenty really went out on a limb to criticize his fellow republican by calling Lindner's statements "troubling." Way to take a stand Tim! The best quote in reaction to Lindner's statements came from house speaker Steve Sviggum: "Arlon is not a mean-spirited person at all. But it almost seems every time Arlon says something, it gets worse for him." The most humorus part of the story is that Lindner tried to back up his claims by saying they were rooted in a book called "The Pink Swastica." Lindner later admitted he had never read the book however.

In other political news out of Minnesota, republican legislators are trying to push an abstinance only sex education bill through the house and senate. Republicans like representative Sondra Erickson claim that schools are encouraging teenagers to engage in sexual intercourse by discussing contracpetives and several forms of birth control. What Ms. Erickson should realize is that schools have been telling kids to abstain from many activities for decades and kids still ignore the messages. Public schools have been pushing anti-smoking messages to kids for as long as I can remember, but kids still smoke. Schools consistently warn students of the dangers of alcohol consumpion, but kids still drink. So what makes republicans think that sex is going to be any different? If anything, abstinance-only legislation will INCREASE the number of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Rich Roads

Senator Dick Day proved once again why you should never trust a politician. Day, in an attempt to alleviate the Twin Cities traffic problems, wants to allow people to pay $500 a year for the right to drive in the express lanes. Basically Day is saying that wealthy individuals are more important and deserve to be able to get to and from work faster. I'm sorry but the tax payers paid for those roads and everyone should be able to use them, not just those who have a little extra ching-ching in their pocket. What's next? First Class MTC Busses with leather interior and complimentary beverages for those who can pay $20 a ride? How about elite elevators for those who can pay $10 each time they ride up to the 25th floor? The wealthy in this country have enough perks as it is, they can certainly drive on the same roads as everyone else.