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Welcome to my writings or rants or whatever. Primarily these pages contain content of particular relevance to people in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

There are some links on the right which people in Saint Paul might find helpful.

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Friday, November 9, 2007

Friday Hash

Four [or five, depending on who is counting] brief and disjointed observations on a Friday morning.

Al Oertwig got twenty votes for school board. I know where one of those came from. It seemed like a minimal tribute to a man whose over two decades of public service came to an end in such a way.


I haven’t seen Dick Radman in quite a while and never knew him well, but I always knew to appreciate who he was and what he had done. He and I haven’t always been on the same side, but one has to concede that our city’s and state’s working people are a lot better off because of people like him. I commend Don Boxmeyer’s article today to everybody’s attention.


When I read commentary that this year’s election meant that Maplewood is going more “liberal” I found myself wondering whether ideology played any part at all in the dysfunctional suburb’s election, or if it was just that the electorate wanted to rejection some of personalities involved.

Then I got to wondering if that same concept might have played a role locally. While I hate to think that people rejected David Haas or Debbie Montgomery because they did not like either’s personality. Brief meditation makes me think otherwise, but maybe somebody else has an idea.


Nick Coleman, jr. wrote in yesterday’s Mpls. Star[-Journal and] Tribune about the regional Taco Bell affiliate’s poor treatment of a veteran employee. You can read it and make your own judgments, but remember that this is an organization whose human rights record is already dubious and make your own choices of where you get your fast food.

Have you ever wondered what must possess a man to name his son after himself.?

There are great examples of men who have named sons after themselves and had the sons grow up to be a great reflection. Martin Luther King, Sammy Davis, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hubert Humphrey are good examples that come to mind. But then you have to consider some of the others, John Wayne Gacy, John Hinckley, George Bush, Hubert Humphrey, jr. and others. It is risky. I wonder why they take these chances.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My parents named me after my mother’s father and my brother after my father. I can’t say that it ever made a difference at all. I would like to think that if they were still living that they would be proud of both of us.

But I have a cousin who was also named after my mother’s father and shares the last name and he has spent a good chunk of his life in gated communities. Right now he is in one in Washington County. He has pissed my autnt and uncle off almost all of his life and is a big disappointment. He hasnt' been violent, but never wanted to earn an honest living. My uncle had a big job with 3M and bailed him out a few times, but finally couldn't do it any longer.

I only had daughters and my ex-wife wouldn’t let us name one after her, but I suspect that if we had had a son, that I would have looked outside of the family for a name.