From: Michael Thompson [mthomps@mninter.net]
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 10:32 AM
To: Ray Marshall; Andy Driscoll; Minneapolis Issues
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Smoking Ban
You know, Ray, I agree with your post. In my treatises on the ban,
one of the points I made long ago was the undercurrent of
paternalism inherent in this ban. Smoking, for the most part, an
activity of the lower socioeconomicclasses. The enlightened
elitists of Minneapolis made an attempt to protectthe less
enlightened working stiffs of this city against themselves. The
arrogance of this stance disgusts me. This faux benevolence is so
typical of Minnesotans.......
"Minnesota nice" delivered to you, for your own good,
with another ban. And if a few bar owners----and their employees
----lose their jobs, I guess that's tough.
For (maybe) the last time, everyone: the latest board move was
about compromise. Compromise is what happens in a democracy
(unless you're a "Progressive"). Anyway, now ban-proponents can
still find bars where there is no smoke so they can wear the same
shirt the next day and still believe that they've saved the life
of someone, somewhere (maybe an ill-informed waitperson or a
bartender)..... while smokers can find a bar where they can smoke.
Smoking ban proponents may have lost this battle, but their brand
of restrictive authoritarianism can still win the war. Fortunately
for us who value freedom, the war is fought on many fronts.
Someday, somewhere, a ban will be imposed that is as equally
restricting to smoking ban proponents as this current ban is to
those of us who value free will over the illusion of safety. And,
as I've said before, it will be too late to do anything about it
then, for we will have already sold our souls to the government to
protect us from the very choices we choose to make. But that
doesn't matter to ban proponents, as long as they don't have to
wash their hair after a night of jazz.........
Mike Thompson
Windom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray Marshall
"Minneapolis Issues"
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 4:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Smoking Ban
> Poor people don't have a lot of options in life and have even fewer
> pleasures.
> It's very tiresome to see the middle classes (now, or of the future
> in the case of the young) crusading to have other people mend their
> ways.
> I suspect that the middle classes have a few bad habits that I might
> like to see eliminated.
> What will we expect the poor to do with the money they will save
> from being forced to quit smoking? Caribbean cruises; climbing Mt.
> Kilimanjaro; perhaps buying a Lexus (to park on the street)? Going
> to graduate school (after they get their GED)?
> What will they be doing with the extra 7 years they will have at
> the end of their life? Join a country club and hang out with non-
> smoking members of the middle class?
> Most people probably will quit smoking over time. Many won't,
> just to be obstinate when someone tells them what they must do.
> There are maybe 100 million jobs in this country. Very few of
> them are in bars or restaurants where smoking is prohibited. I
> suggest that those who don't like second hand smoke should not seek
> work in those establishments.
> They can probably make more money doing the noon rush in a
> Perkins or similar restaurant catering to the speedy lunch crowd
> with a half dozen table turnovers.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Smoking Ban
Let's have more leaders of heft
|
| MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL, MINNESOT |
Garrison Keillor The Old Scout: Let's have more leaders of heft
Maybe Americans have been looking at the wrong body type as they choose their commander in chief.
Everything was said that could be said about Ariel Sharon last week as he lay in a coma except the one thing that crossed the mind of every viewer watching newsreel footage of the prime minister, which was, "How much does that man weigh?" (Answer: 255 pounds. And he's 5-foot-7.) He looked like a bull walrus ruling a colony of baby seals. And it made you wonder, how does tiny Israel come up with this family-size guy while the World's Only Superpower struggles along with a wiry little fellow who works very hard on his abs? Is it time we think about getting someone weightier?
We haven't had a fat president since William Howard Taft and that was at the tail end of the Gilded Age, when politicians were expected to be portly. We've had a few semi-beefy ones since (Harding, Hoover), and LBJ carried a potbelly, and Bill Clinton had his moments of bloat, but the American people, now that two-thirds of us are overweight, prefer that the Great White Father be lean, taut, angular, a runner or horseman or cutter of brush. Whereas a guy who looks like he'd be right at home in a Barcalounger with a can of Pabst in his mitt doesn't seem to fit the bill.
I suppose that a compact build indicates some sort of self-discipline, but discipline to do what? Look at Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot. None of them was a hearty eater, and for good reason: paranoia. When you're a megalomaniac, it takes away your appetite, thinking of all the folks who'd love to put rat poison in your ratatouille.
It is human to put butter on mashed potatoes and to choose the cheese plate instead of the lo-fat gelatin and to linger over the port wine and chocolates. The man who denies himself might satisfy his hungers elsewhere, promulgating reckless policies, such as a war against a nation that poses no threat to us and torturing those whom he deems enemies and detaining them at his pleasure and marching his troops into a quagmire. A fat man, someone who must heave himself to his feet in the morning and behold a great pile of flesh in the bathroom mirror, the matronly pectorals and the enormous haunches and spare tire, might be more circumspect. He already looks like an emperor, so he would try harder not to act like one.
The advance eulogies of Sharon spoke of his remarkable political shift, from right-wing warrior to moderate compromiser, and you thought, "This is the sort of man America needs right now. Maybe we've been looking at the wrong body type."
Fat men spend more time in contemplation, if only because they get winded climbing stairs and need to sit down. Because they jiggle when they walk, they may be less prone to delusions of grandeur. The fat man doesn't expect his supporters to hoist him to their shoulders. Nor does he hope to sneak around undetected. He is able to face up to his own mistakes. (How can he not? They are hanging over his belt.) He has lived with derision and that gives him a sense of compassion that may be lacking in a Medium or Small. And yet like Churchill, he knows what it's like to rouse oneself to heroic effort. Neville Chamberlain was the elegant guy in the 36 Extra Long who kept backing down from the Nazis. It was the Old Fat Man who spoke of blood, sweat and tears. He knew about sweat.
The top-ranking fat man in government today is Speaker of the House J. Dennis (Coach) Hastert of Plano, Ill., who for years has been two heartbeats away from the presidency, and one of those hearts has a pacemaker. A mild-mannered fellow who only seeks to do good for the western suburbs of Chicago and for American business, Hastert favors a strong national defense and the education of our children while opposing tax increases of any kind, large or small. He is also in favor of life.
Sitting on the dais behind President Bush at the annual State of the Union address, the Speaker has never missed a single standing ovation. A fat man must get tired of jumping to his feet 20 times in a row, but the Speaker has always been there, clapping his big meaty hands. He would be the first Dennis to become president. And he would look more like us, the American people. Think it over.
Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country. His column is distributed by Tribune Media Services.
©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
What do you think of this 'judicial' reasoning?
From: Ray Marshall [raymarsh@mninter.net]
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 8:06 AM
To: Jake Manahan
Subject: What do you think of this 'judicial' reasoning?
-->
I posted this on a Catholic blog which was discussing polygamy as the next step after homosexual marriage. A bit of hyperbole perhaps, but something that is not being discussed and should be.
And right after polygamy is endorsed, the bestiality crowd will move into line to get theirs. But they will be fighting NAMBLA who will plead seniority.
Don't laugh. In the light of what we know now about our society, how would it be possible to say "no" to them?
These would have to be considered as falling within the shelter of the "right of privacy" just as abortion and birth control were classified.
By the way, drag out your copy of the Constitution of the United States. In it you will see that in Article III, concerning the courts, Section 2 reads as follows: "Clause 1: The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority...."
Article VI reads in part: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
The astute reader will note that "treaties" are part of the "supreme law of the land" according to the Constitution.
That means that UN laws and regulations and those of NATO and other organization which the US is a member of, will become laws that have to be observed in the United States.
Several of the sitting Supreme Court justices are regularly citing European rights and legislation in their opinions.
It's only a matter of time until the "Euro-justices" on the U.S. bench will have a majority.
Comments on St Joan of Arc Parish
Adoro Te Devote blog
January 2006
Ray Marshall said...
I used to attend St Joan's a long time ago (I'm now a member of the Basilica parish but as often as not find myself at Nativity in St Paul).
I had hoped that the new pastor at SJA, recruited personally by the Archbishop, would put the brakes on some of their activities. But he's only been there a month and this revisionist teacher probably was scheduled some time ago.
Frankly, as evidenced by the number of Catholics who do not know or understand their faith, the entire American Church could be found to be guilty of gross malfeasance of office.
Regularly, I hear the most astounding things in a Spiritual Journey Group whose sessions I attend at the Basilica. But as we aren't there to debate, I generally let them pass.
One of our members attends St Joans.
I enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the good work.
(Curt Jester picked up your SJA piece and that's how I found you).
Ray in South Minneapolis, more towards St Paul, though.
10:07 AM
Ray Marshall said...
I just checked out the SJA link that Curt Jester provided. Take a gander at the picture of the audience.
http://www.stjoan.com/thumb1fr.htm
Most of the attendees look like they graduated from high school in the 50s. These are the people who were inspired by Vatican II in the belief that the laity would begin to run the Church. I have many friends who still believe that.
I recall having a conversation with one friend in particular a few years ago who was almost in tears as he had to admit that that was not going to be the case.
That belief is one of the many things that grew out of Vatican II, but that had no basis in fact.
I don't know about St Joan’s, but my observation in attending Mass at the Basilica, St Olaf's, Nativity, the Cathedral, etc. is that there are a lot of 30 somethings and families at Mass and a significant number of folks who arrive early for prayer, stay late, participate in Perpetual Adoration, light votive candles and march in Eucharistic processions.
So it's not all bad.
Ray
Ray Marshall said...
When I attended SJA, it was in the early 80s and right at the end of Fr. Harvey Egan's tenure. He started the "looseness" but was reasonably orthodox, other than the homilies. But nobody objected from the chancery.
And he was crafty. He would get up, give a two or three minute homily to satisfy the liturgical requirements, which generally was pretty good, and then introduce the main speaker, who would be a lay person, and generally speaking on a topic in which I was not at all interested and often didn't even have anything to do with religion. I left soon after Fr. Egan retired.
I just didn't like the whole "gym" scene. But they did have a nice orthodox 7:30 a.m. Mass in the church that I attended a few times.
You are correct in that there is a large homosexual community at the Basilica and they have an active social group. But to my knowledge, "sashes" have not been used there.
And I would agree that the majority of the parish is pretty liberal. But most of the "liberalness" is reflected outwardly only in standing at the Consecration and in the substitution of the word "God" for "man" and "him" at various points in the Mass.
Of course, internally, since the vast majority under 50 have not had much catechesis, their beliefs are often not orthodox, and they don't care. Relativism reigns. And many of those over 50 are the rebels who want to see the laity in control of the Church.
But there are 7,000 people on the mailing list, so that still leaves room for others.
The parish is starting to have adult education classes and events and I would expect over time, more and more people will take advantage of these and benefit. They have an arrangement with priests and teachers from St. John's in Collegeville to do some of the instruction.
I attended a 5 hours class on the Holy Trinity just before Christmas and it was great.
A lot of people believe that the riot act should be read at both places and drastic measures taken to get rid of dissenters. But all that would do is drive people away. And there are a half dozen or more parishes that have the same problems.
Might it not be better to be welcoming, as the Basilica is, and maybe over time bring people back into full communion.
I personally, was away from the Church for 20 years. I didn't join any other Church. I was just lazy. Of course, I still considered myself to be Catholic, but knowing I was not at all ready for the final judgment.
I thank God daily for the graces that got me back. And I pray that people I know get those same graces.
Since the Church was the one to let loose the reins starting in 1965 (when the whole country was in a state of rebellion anyway because of Vietnam, the Civil Rights movements and the drug culture, clamping down on these people just wouldn't work.
I was lucky. And I thank God for it.
What do you do when the perpetrator's dead?
From: Ray Marshall [raymarsh@mninter.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2006 7:33 AM
To: Rick Marshall
Subject: What do you do when the perpetrator's dead?
-->
You sue anyway, the jury will always decide in your favor, it seems.
This is the first case that I know of involving the Duluth diocese. Although the Superior diocese is having huge problems with the priest who apparently killed two in a funeral home in Hudson, WI. I know the guy who was the public defender for the priest (but he only met with him two or three times before the priest hung himself). The Defender thought the priest was innocent.
We've been pretty fortunate around here. There was a young priest who for a time in Duluth in the 70’s or so who was sent off for rehabilitation for an unnamed offense.
I see Merced got hit with a bad one a year or two ago.
This is a quite stomach wrenching experience for us bystanders to live through. I’ve followed it fairly closely for a time and there is no doubt that there were some real monsters out there. But there also were more than a few who might have had only one or two experiences/charges and 40 years later they get to be declared guilty.
And no doubt but that the Bishops deserve much of the blame. But they were depending on the lawyers and psychologists for advice. Nobody was trained for these kinds of situations.
All one can do is pray that it will end some day.
What's really shocking is the priests who can’t/won’t stop.
And of course, rather than pedophilia, since mostly it involves teenagers as victims, it is mostly homosexuality. But you can deny the holocaust before the media would accept that.
The lawyer Anderson referred to in the article has made millions, literally, over the years setting up a firm whose only practice is defending claimants against the Church.
One thing that I’ve talked about with others is the number of priests who hung around with kids, sometimes even taking them on outings, overnights, even.. Maybe I was naïve, but I don’t think I ever saw a kid ever even “chat” with a priest other than in a classroom. And the most they would say to us as Altar Boys would be “Good Morning” and “Thank You.”
Posted on Sat, Feb. 11, 2006
Trial set in case against diocese
BY MARK STODGHILL
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
A September trial has been set for a former Proctor man who is suing the Diocese of Duluth and St. Rose Catholic Church in Proctor, claiming he was sexually abused by a priest starting more than four decades ago.
The plaintiff claims he was molested by the Rev. John Nicholson at the Proctor church starting in 1965 when he was an 11-year-old altar boy. According to the complaint, Nicholson died in 1988.
The suit claims that the alleged sexual abuse by Nicholson led the plaintiff to develop various coping mechanisms and symptoms of psychological distress, "including great shame, guilt, self-blame, depression, repression and disassociation."
The suit asks for more than $50,000 in damages.
The plaintiff, 52, is known in court documents as "John Doe 65." The former railroad employee lives in Arizona in the winter and Superior in the summer.
In his lawsuit, filed in 2003, the man claims that the alleged sexual abuse by Nicholson included fondling and masturbating the minor.
The Sept. 25 trial date was set during a teleconference Judge John T. Oswald held with the attorneys on Friday.
The plaintiff is represented by St. Paul lawyer Jeff Anderson, one of the most prominent lawyers in the country in handling sexual abuse cases by clergy.
The diocese is represented by Duluth attorney John Kelly.
Anderson said the plaintiff will argue that Nicholson abused the plaintiff while acting in the scope of his employment and that makes the Duluth Diocese legally responsible.
In his court-filed answer to the complaint, Kelly said that Nicholson was not acting within the scope of his duties as a Roman Catholic priest at any time he is alleged to have sexually abused or exploited the man.
Parking at the U of MN
From: Ray Marshall [raymarsh@mninter.net]
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 10:12 AM
To: Mpls Issues
Subject: [Mpls] Parking at the U of MN
Boy, I'll bet that that subject line cause a few to click who otherwise
would have bypassed this message.
Remember the late, un-lamented Koller's Garage? Raise your hands if you had
cause to visit them?
Well, anyhow, I've had cause to visit the Mpls campus a couple of times in
the past month and feeling flush, I decided to park in a ramp on my first
visit. Imagine my shock when I got socked for seven buck for a bit over two
hours. There are a lot of places downtown where that might come to a whole
day's tab, I see from the Mpls Parking Web Site.
http://parking.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/parking_rates.php
But back to my gripe. Are well-heeled Ivy League dropouts crowding into the
land grant universities and scarfing up all the great parking spaces?
Now I can see that during the day, the rate must be justified only because I
can't imagine that all those ramps (and they seem to have only one rate) can
be empty, but my first visit was at 6:30 on a Thursday evening. As I dug
deep for the 7 bucks, I noticed that the attendant seemed to be enjoying his
graphic novel. Probably can go through quite a few of them each night.
And yesterday, I decided I needed to spend a few hours in Wilson Library.
Same rate. Seven bucks for two+ hours, and I had hoped to spend four or five
hours there. And I note in the neighborhood that all parking seems to be
limited to one hour without a resident permit. Which is fine. I didn't
check the meters to see if I could get enough time with one fill. Too cold
out.
I see from the parking meter page that all parking meters take that rarity
of rarities, a dollar coin, and something called a Parking Card. That's
good to know.
http://parking.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/parking_meters.htm
Fortunately, I am a short jog from the LRT and I will be able next weekend
to zip over and back for two+ bucks, and get a little needed exercise while
I'm at it.
As a taxpayer, though, wouldn't it make sense to crank down those night and
weekend rates when there are no classes at the U to grab a few more parking
fees and give those attendants a little more work to do?
Gas Masks for the Homeless
14 Feb 2003
Typical Morning, Mpls Forum Digest: Gas Masks for the Homeless, etc.Message 1 Money Needed for Redevelopment of Franklin AveMessage 2: $700,000 to be given to the poverty stricken Mdewakanton Sioux
to preserve "sacred" Camp Coldwater Spring. I understand the Archbishop has
applied for a grant to help pay for the restoration of the Cathedral and the
Basilica. I expect that will go through without much problem. Any First
Amendment authorities on the Forum?
Message 3: Gas Masks and Rations needed for the Homeless to withstand
terrorism from peoples unknown. No mention of any groups that might be
involved. How 'bout Arabic lessons for them, or is that too impolitic to
mention?
Message 4: No cuts in Local Government Aid for MinneapolisMessage 5: DittoMessage 6: Minneapolis needs to be reimbursed for all the money we spent
for infrastructure for the suburbs. Maybe we should make them all move
back. Is everybody ready to double and triple and quintuple up in their
housing?
Message 7: Alternative use for plastic and duct tape. No thoughts on who
would pay.
Message 8: Non resident sheds light on who pays for what.Message 9: Biggest War Protest in History Scheduled for Loring Park.
Police agree to work for nothing as a sign of solidarity?
Message 10: Full Moon predicts start of war this weekend. City needs to
prepare by Monday, oops, it's a three day weekend for them. Might be too
late.
Message 11: Suggestion that duct tape is worthless. Rather we should all
move to the northern suburbs (where we paid for the infrastructure), far
away from the Mega Mall, our prime target.
Message 12: New day coming at City Hall with election of Samuels; DFL upsetMessage 13: City Council in favor of Poverty and HomelessnessMessage 14: Another rational thought on Local Government AidMessage 15: Where to Snowtube from someone who doesn't want Federal Funds
(as far as I know)
Message 16: American politicians likened to Nazis in whipping up anti-Iraq
fever.
Ray Marshall
Hiawatha
Early Review of the New Library Building
From: Ray Marshall [raymarsh@mninter.net]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 3:43 PM
To: 'Mpls'
Subject: Early Review of the New Library Building
morning and drove by the new library. Just got a quick glance from Hennepin
and Fourth Street's vantage points. It's going to open in a few months.
Starting with the open disclosure that I have often been accused of not
knowing what I am talking about, I venture the opinion that at first glance
it looks like they remodeled the old building, changed the yellow color to
cream, left the gray color as it was and added a couple of floors. Oh,
yeah, and it looks like Paul Bunyan left one of his chisels on the roof.
But they're not done yet, so he'll probably come back to pick it up.
I'll further add that as much as I love books and libraries, and I really
do, my personal collection is nothing to be ashamed of, I voted against the
referendum.
It was my opinion, and nobody listened, that the existing building should
have been remodeled as a business-medical-technology-research library with a
greatly increased collection in those areas (and maybe a few others) and
lots of nifty stuff on patents, copyrights and trademarks, etc. and
ultra-modern technology for the State's business community. I have a friend
who was the City Manager of Sunnyvale, CA, "capital" of Silicon Valley in
the 80s, and that's what that community did. Of course, they had tons of
money.
Then, the general collection of the library should have been moved to a new
location with a lot more parking: maybe on the near North along the river,
or in an area crying for redevelopment. I've talked to developers and
shopping center builders. The general public doesn't like to go to places
where parking isn't obvious and locations where they don't quite know where
to go when they get out of their car. Construction would probably have been
cheaper too.
I'm sure the new building will be nifty from the inside, but considering how
much money is being spent, it doesn't look like the city got much in the
line of architecture on the outside. (This is another one of those problems
that can be attributed to the fragmented form of municipal government we
have).
And speaking of my neighborhood library, East Lake, I see that the
contractor, "Slow-Motion-Construction", after about a year or better, seems
to finally have started building something. When you figure that Target can
throw up a building in a few months, and Wal-Mart probably faster, and that
this isn't the first neighborhood library ever to be built, it sure seems
like it is taking a very long time for this project. Have I read somewhere
that the Walker Library is still a mess?
Now, having donned my Dad's old Civil Defense Air Raid Warden helmet from
WWII, I await your thoughts.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
RE: Changing picture marks Sappi talks
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 8:08 PM
To: John L. Sweeney
Subject: RE: Changing picture marks Sappi talks
It’s amazing that transportation doesn’t seem to be a factor.
I’m still at heart a Duluth booster, being born there. In 1900-20, Duluth was one of the boomtowns of the country. It was thought that because of Great Lakes shipping, they would one day rival Chicago for industry and population.
Two things put the kibosh on that. The weather, of course, was one. But the national highway system and the growth of the automobile/truck industry was even more important.
And ever since then Duluth has slowly “died on the vine.� In the 80s they finally read the handwriting on the wall and discovered tourism and have at least stopped the free-fall.
You may have heard of “Jeno’s Pizza.� A cheap frozen supermarket brand. Also canned sauce. And they invented the Pizza Roll. Manufactured in Duluth by Jeno Paulucci, the same guy who made a fortune by starting Chun King Chow Mein in Duluth and ultimately selling it to R.J. Reynolds. Now he has a new frozen Italian food line named after his mother, “Michalina’s.� Whatever he has touched, through hard work, mostly, he has done well. Demanding boss, but he pays them well. All his managers drive Company Cadillacs. At one point he was the second biggest landowner in Florida, after Disney.
20 or more years ago, Jeno’s moved to Ohio (near West Virginia), claiming that transportation costs were too much living so far north and away from the population center of the country. One time I happened to be on business in NY and flew back via Columbus, OH, and happened to be sitting next to a guy who was Jeno’s Maintenance Manager in OH who was born in Duluth. We had mutual acquaintances. I asked him whether it was that much cheaper to produce in OH rather than Duluth. He laughed and said that in one year they paid for the entire move, including payments on the new building (heavily subsidized by OH because of all the jobs) just through transportation costs alone.
Being in Duluth, they were so far out of the way, they had to pay truckers to drive up there to pick up loads. In OH they were on the main drag and truckers automatically stopped by to pick up loads.
Yet Europeans, South Africans and Asians can sell paper and heavy equipment here, even with 10,000 mile ocean voyages. Doesn’t say much for American efficiency, does it.
-----Original Message-----
From: John L. Sweeney [mailto:sweelab@enter.net]
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 7:03 PM
To: Ray Marshall
Subject: Re: Changing picture marks Sappi talks
A- The price of the American firms is attractive, i.e. "low", considering the "off-shore" firm keeps the Sales people, contacts stay in place, customer and prospect lists become the new owner's, Production Machines and their labor force are eliminated, plant real estate is sold and the buyers have [in time] no real American sources of supply, they must pay higher prices for the Production output of non-U.S.
plants of the new owners.
B-That's the only reason a S. African, Finnish, etc. firm would buy paper manufacturers.
When our steel industry went belly up because of the 90 day syndrome and there were no
more American steel companies the new owners [Chineese e.g.] charged 20 times the going
price for rebar steel. Only the Chineese steel plants made the stuff.
After Formica, Inmont, Masonite etc. closed their printing plants because buying gravure
cylinders and paper from the Japaneese wood-grain folks, Topan, DiNippon & Chioda
was such a good idea, it was cheaper, the quality was better than ever before and the Americans
could make more money because of the lower costs of what they used to produce.
Then, the Japaneese firms would no longer supply cylinders, only printed paper at 10 times the
previous prices.
C-- That day can and will come when the "new owners" can't expect to pull out of us higher profits
than they can get elsewhere, China comes to mind right now and Russia came to mind a decade ago.
A---You’ve given me the reasons, but I still find it amazing that so many foreign companies are investing in American firms. Just like in the 19th century.
B-----And it must be, as you state, that they are so inefficiently managed that there is a lot of money to be made.
C----And if they didn’t invest in American firms, we wouldn’t have the money to pay off our balance of payments deficits. And that would really drive the dollar down.
My Touch With History
To: Rick Marshall
28 April 2006
When I worked at Meyers Printing in Minneapolis in the 80s, we printed for the Sons of Norway, a fraternal insurance group, a novel or history of Norwegian emigration to the United States. One of the requirements was that we were to ship 1500 (or so) copies of the book when complete to the Norwegian Consulate in Chicago so that they could ship it to Norway to coincide with the maiden voyage of the Norway (see the article) to New York. We were late in getting the copy from the Sons of Norway and various other things happened that we couldn’t ship it to Chicago. It was my job to ship those 1500 books to Oslo (or someplace) via express air freight so that they could have a copy to give to each of the paying customers. I assume they got there as we didn’t hear any complaints and they paid the air freight bill. I suppose about 3 of the books were actually read.
Then a few years later, I heard that the “Norway� was sold to some Caribbean cruise line. All I know about that was that the day before the maiden voyage out of Miami, they flunked their health inspection and the voyage was delayed a month or so. Then after they finally steamed south, they got out in the middle of the Caribbean and they had a fire or something and all the passengers had to be evacuated and flown back to Miami.
Talk about a jinxed ship.
|
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Re: I bet you thought I was full of it!
-----Original Message-----
From: Meanface [mailto:meanface1@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 9:55 PM
To: Ray Marshall
Subject: Re: I bet you thought I was full of it!
now you're placing yourself in the same block as an aged russian dissident.
Being on the “geezer� side of life, I guess I could consider myself to be “aging.�
why, that guy couldn't even speak english when he was growing up. he would be a perfect candidate to ship to mexico, and then he could cross the border illegally at nogales, trek across the arizona desert, and end up in a waiter's job in new york city. i actually read "one day in the life" more than once.
He must not have had a good lawyer. Two companies ending up publishing the book the same year in English. I have both first editions. And his English is different in each edition. He probably didn’t even get paid royalties from one of them. I suppose that’s like being a switch-hitter in baseball.
solzhenitsyn must have had a ghost writer because the copy i read was in english. i never read "gulag" for some reason, which escapes me right now. i don't know what the hell is going on, and, since no one from the government has asked for my advice, i basically leave things alone.
Nobody ever asks me, either. But sometimes I have to scream just to relieve the pain.
funny this should come up, however, because one of the guys i fly with is a retired b-52 pilot and now flies cessna citation 10 aircraft for net jets, a world wide charter service. he's 58 and volunteers his time to the sheriff's dept. he's a great pilot and a great guy. anyway, the other day he mentioned that he was afraid that someone was going to explode a nuclear weapon in the united states before he and i started pushing up daisies. he's no politico, but his musing about the nuke was out of character for him. he hoped he was wrong, but since i was on final approach at the time, protecting himself from death from one of my landings was a more imminent danger and the topic was dropped.
I worry about that too. Right now there are probably 600 ships lined up to unload at Long Beach. Each one has maybe 1000 containers. One “suitcase nuke� is probably the size of a desk. Of course, it wouldn’t be China doing it because if Long Beach were closed, their trade with the US would be cut off because nobody could unload for years. But some nutcase with a lot of money just might do it.
life is good.
Yes, life is good. But it’s good to pray also to do our part to keep it so.
----- Original Message -----
But Solzhenitsyn agrees with me. And I swear that I didn’t see this article til 8:55 p.m., about 12 hours after my rant about Bush of this morning. Maybe he’s not insane, but Bush is walking a very dangerous line up against the very paranoid Russians. Solzhenitsyn accuses the West of plotting to surround and undermine Russia Alexander Solzhenitsyn has accused the United States of launching a military campaign to encircle Russia and turn it into a NATO chattel. The Nobel laureate also delivered his strongest endorsement yet of President Vladimir Putin, surprising Kremlin critics who argue that the country is growing more authoritarian.
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 29/04/2006)
Replying in writing to questions from the weekly Moscow News, the 87-year-old former Soviet dissident said military action by the United States in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan underlined the menace to Russian sovereignty.
"Though it is clear that present-day Russia poses no threat to it whatsoever, NATO is methodically and persistently expanding its military apparatus in the east of Europe and is implementing an encirclement of Russia from the South," he wrote.
He also attacked western support for recent revolutions that toppled Moscow-backed regimes in Ukraine and Georgia.
"All this leaves no doubt that they are preparing a complete encirclement of Russia which will be followed by the deprivation of her sovereignty," he said.
Russia, he suggested, was all that stood between NATO and the "downfall of Christian civilisation".
He praised the efforts of Mr Putin "to salvage the state from failure". Arrested in 1945, Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner in both an elite laboratory for captive scientists and a labour camp in Central Asia.
After his release his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was the first work to draw attention to the camps in the Soviet Union. His longer The Gulag Archipelago provoked a furor abroad, prompting his deportation to the West in 1974. Solzhenitsyn returned to post-Soviet Russia in 1994.
I bet you thought I was full of it!
From: Ray Marshall [raymarsh@mninter.net]
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 9:02 PM
To: Rick Marshall
Subject: I bet you thought I was full of it!
-->
But Solzhenitsyn agrees with me.
And I swear that I didn’t see this article til 8:55 p.m., about 12 hours after my rant about Bush of this morning.
Maybe he’s not insane, but Bush is walking a very dangerous line up against the very paranoid Russians.
Solzhenitsyn accuses the West of plotting to surround and undermine Russia
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 29/04/2006)
U.S. seals deal on military bases in Bulgaria
I think Bush is insane.
He’s bogged down in Afghanistan.
He’s bogged down in Iraq.
He wants to declare war on Iran
He’s got some troops and air bases in Poland
He’s got bases in Turkey
He’s got bases coming to Romania.
He just signed a deal for bases in Bulgaria.
If you look at the map of the World, what does that mean? Why just that paranoid Russians (Russia being the ONLY country that is a real threat to the mainland United States) are under attack from the West and the South! (China wouldn’t dare attack us. If we cut off payments for their trade, they would go bankrupt within a month and there would be riots throughout the entire country).
I repeat, Bush is insane and should be committed.
He knows that no President can be considered “great� unless he wins a war. He wants to avenge his father’s mediocre reputation. So he’s desperate to have a war he thinks he can win in the next 2 ½ years.
U.S. seals deal on military bases in Bulgaria
Plan linked to U.S. efforts to move smaller bases closer to Middle East
Updated: 7:05 a.m. ET April 28, 2006
Dear Tailgater:
Dear Tailgater
My $50 car is being followed closely by your luxury boat.
How fast can you brake?
My pal, “Whiplash Willie�, has got some time on his hands.
[Never sent. Many opportunities daily, but I never get their email addresses.]What we need is a Wikipedia for Minnesota History
From: Ray Marshall [raymarsh@mninter.net]
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 12:19 PM
To: britta.bloomberg@mnhs.org
Subject: What we need is a Wikipedia for Minnesota History
Good (another warm) Day!
Yesterday, by accident, I came across something called "The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History." http://www.historylink.org/this_week/index.cfm
It looks interesting. But as I've been only in Vancouver, Washington, I'm not particularly interested in scouring that site, but it looks pretty interesting.
But immediately, I thought to myself, "Why doesn't Minnesota have something like that?" (In addition to the MHS's great site).
What I immediately thought of was people such as myself, genealogists and amateurs, who have been collecting all kinds of interesting stuff over the years, and have no place to put it. And one of these days, I'm gong to BE no longer. And if nobody in my family is interested, my work will vaporize.
No doubt you recently read of the recent comparison by somebody of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the all-volunteer-generated Wikipedia, where the Wikipedia effort was deemed to be remarkably accurate.
Why couldn't we start something like that in Minnesota. With the MHS as the coordinator and web page site, all the myriad links to local history sites and library and archive collections in Minnesota could be placed in one location, and people such as myself who have collected a lot of information, much of it from newspapers and obscure sources, would have a place where it could be deposited. There must be thousands of oral history items and interesting photographs that could be placed there. Volunteers would be responsible for "editing" the contributions. Just like with the Wikipedia.
In my case, most of my research pertains to Duluth and St Louis County, but being that my ancestors were not movers and shakers, I don't have much about mayors and magnates. What I do have is a lot on saloons, on the American Protective Association, on recreation in the 1890s, on the people and scandals covered by the original Rip-Saw, on fights in the Catholic Church between the Poles and their Bishop, on the excesses of the Minnesota Commission on Public Safety in 1918, and etc. And I'd feel less guilty about using all those great photos that I have swiped from your Photography Collection
I would bet that there would be a lot of us who would be willing to contribute our information. A real "People's History of Minnesota."
I wouldn't be surprised but that the Wiki software might not be available for free or a very nominal contribution. Other than computer space and time, once up and running, I wouldn't think that a project like this would cost much in terms of personnel.
And it could/would be a tremendous contribution to the unwritten/uncollected history of Minnesota. And an example for the rest of the country.
I didn't know who to send this to, so I just chose you (going to the top
Ray Marshall
Minneapolis
[No Response]