Suburbanite Slamming

Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse struck a nerve with me this past week as he attempted to convey the signifigance of a Minnetonka vs. Wayzata Prep Bowl championship football game. The point of Reusse's article was that the two teams were from the same conference and what a rare occurrance that is in Minnesota state football playoff history. Then, because his article was dry and boring, he attempted to spice it up by throwing in a jab at suburban student athletes:

"This was also the first title game when it was virtually a
requirement that a kid drove his own pricey vehicle to
school in order to be issued a jersey."

First off this backdoor criticism is so old and tiresome that someone should inform the ragged and has-been writer that suburban kids are so used to hearing these jabs that they really could care less. Secondly, Reusse is just plain wrong with his assumption. Don't lump every kid into one catagory just because he wears the jersey with the name Wayzata on it. Yes, many kids who attend Wayzata and Minnetonka have wealthy parents and probably drive fancy cars. That doesn't mean all of them do, or that even half of them do. And finally, just because a kid is spoiled and drives a fancy car doesn't mean he can't play football and play it well.

Manic Wednesday

From the time I woke up this morning until right now I have found myself drifting back and forth between two moods. At times I tell myself that last night's election results really won't effect me that much on a day to day basis and that it's really not something to be upset about. Then there have been other times when I feel myself filling up with rage over the direction I feel this country could be moving in. Most of rage today has been directed at the religous right who I feel have been brainwashed by churches which have basically become special interest groups. It appears that many people based their vote yesterday on "moral issues." What I find so fraudulent is that the only moral issues the churches are talking about is gay marraige and abortion in order to get their congregations to back republicans. Churches fail to talk about several other moral issues under which George Bush would be found guilty such as greed and judging others.

Local results

Here are some local results on a city by city basis from around the west metro area of Minneapolis. I was not surprised that my hometown of St. Louis Park backed Kerry, however I was surprised that more wealthy suburbs such as Edina and Minnetonka also voted for Kerry.

St. Louis Park: 65.9% for Kerry, 34.1% for Bush
Golden Valley: 62.6% for Kerry, 37.3% for Bush
Hopkins: 62.2% for Kerry, 37.7% for Bush
Minnetonka: 53.6% for Kerry, 46.3% for Bush
Edina: 51.2% for Kerry, 48.7% for Bush
Plymouth: 47.6% for Kerry, 52.3% for Bush
Wayzata: 45.2% for Kerry, 54.8% for Bush
Eden Prairie: 43.9% for Kerry, 56.1% for Bush

Where's my prozac?

It appears that John Kerry has come up a little bit short in his bid to become our country's next president. It has been a night full of disappointments in my opionion on the democratic side. My lone concession is that my dear old state of Minnesota has once again voted democratic for the eighth straight presidential election. It is the only state in the union that has that track record. I was also disappointed that Patty Wetterling lost her race for a house seat against republican Mark Kennedy. I'm sure, in fact I know that I will expound on these thoughts in the next several days but for now I'm too depressed to think.