Scarred Statue

Last year an ugly statue was placed in Phalen Park, north of the picnic pavilion, east of the amphitheater, and within view of the Karl Neid, jr. bridge. I say ugly. Others disagree. That is well. Art is a subjective thing, And I admit that after seeing the statue in person, I concluded that it was not as ugly as the pictures I had seen would have led me to think.

But even though we don’t all agree on how lovely/ugly the statue is, what can be [and must be] agreed on is that the recent racial vandalism and defacement is clearly ugly.

On Friday the 15^th there will be a community ceremony to demonstrate neighborhood indignation at all that has happened there and to serve as a sort of kickoff to the cleanup of the statue scheduled to begin the next Monday. I doubt if I will be there since I already have booked the time for something else, but I do wish to announce it here for your information/edification.

Earlier post on the Karl Neid, jr. bridge: [10/14/07]

http://ccmusings.blogspot.com/2007/10/bridge-in-phalen-park.html

ADDENDUM [8/12]: I should have put this in the original post, but this morning's DPP has the infomation phrased concisely.

IF YOU GO: 'UNITY CEREMONY'

What: Unity ceremony prompted by a sculpture being defaced with hate graffiti

When: Friday. Viewing of the sculpture begins at 6 p.m., and the ceremony at 7 p.m.

Where: Phalen Park pavilion, St. Paul

Parking: Available at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church at Arcade Street and Larpenteur Avenue. It's a short walk to the park; shuttle bus service will be available.

Republicans ar SOO special!

It would seem funny to suggest that our local taxicab drivers who every day provide transportation to Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, Vegetarians, Libertarians, Prohibitionists, drunks, union members, management, old, young, rich, poor, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, atheist, Unitarian, tall, short, well-dressed, and shabbily-dressed, local people, visitors, and people of just about every other description, would need to go to special classes to learn how to transport Republicans and their guests for the Republican National Convention.

Yes, the suggestion would seem funny. That is, if it were not true. Local taxicab drivers have been sent a letter which seems to be more than an invitation and almost a summons to attend such classes. It seems that Bob Kessler and the folks at DSI can never run out of good ideas. Except, of course, for enforcing our ordinances against unlicensed cabs. That would require some effort and some night work.

People want to work. What’s so bad about that?

It is not local and not even in Minnesota, but the recent ICE raid of Agriprocessor, Inc. in northern Iowa near Postville has received a fair amount of local attention.

More than 400 people were detained and taken elsewhere to be held. His Eminence, Jerome Hanus, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dubuque has condemned the raid.

And it happened while the United Food & Commercial Workers were conducting an organizing drive.

What a coincidence!

So workers’ families are disrupted and their children’s educations endangered. What do you suppose will happen to the employers who will benefit from this bit of federally- sanctioned and implemented union busting?

People want to work. What’s so bad about that?

And if it had happened here, can you imagine how much fun Pawlenty and Seifert would have had?

Tutu the Fifth Time

We gave considerable attention in October to the brouhaha about Archbishop Tutu and St. Thomas [the college, not the saint].

So it would seem in order to note that the anticipated visit from the South African bishop/activist/Nobel laureate is upon us.

Details of the Archbishop’s visit are available in a MinnPost story posted this morning.

I am sure that even those of us who will not be seeing him will wish our distinguished visitor welcome.

Previous posts:

Tutu the Fourth Time [10/10/08]

Tutu the Thrid Time [10/9/07]

Congrats, A L Brown AND Tutu the Second Time [10/7/07]

Welcome to Minnesota?? [Nobel Division] [10/5/07]

Semianniversary

Today marks six months since the first post on this blog. [Not enough for a birthday cake, but maybe it warrants a piece of pie, so and get yourself one if you wish -- at your own expense of course since I am cheap.]

I have posted with about the frequency I had thought I would, but have not stuck to local topics as much as I had figured on. [Had you suggested that I would find it handy to have a label for “Marty Seifert” I probably would not have agreed.]

A few people have added comments, some often. I don’t think I actually know most of them, but the way comments are taken provides for enough anonymity that I really cannot tell.

I have run into several people around town who tell me that they look at the site but have never commented. I understand. I almost never comment on anybody else’s site myself, although I do make occasional comments on Saint Paul Issues Forum.

I assume that this forum has served some positive role in promoting civil discourse on public issues, but certainly cannot say that the role has been large.

Feel free to use the comment space for this post to give general feedback on Capitol City Musings.

RS

Well, now we know how much time

As I noted in a post on February 23:

Were gambling legal in this state [yeah, sure] it would be interesting if somebody made book on how long it will be before Pawlenty or one of his allies, hot-dogging politically to appeal to others' [and likely their own] bigotry uses this as justification for more cracking down on aliens [which also inherently means darker-skinned people who might be thought of as aliens], especially as to regards driver license labeling.

Well, now we know. House Minority leader Marty Seifert whose area the accident took place in, today introduced the idea of penalizing local taxpayers whose police agencies fail to check the legal status of people they contact.

I know that I carry neither birth certificate nor passport [which I have never even had] with me, so if I am ever in a traffic stop, I could be putting the taxpayers of our city in jeopardy. I could suggest that they just decide to never stop me, that it isn’t worth the hassle or risk to the city, but that is not the responsible approach.

What would be responsible is to learn that immigration problems are national problems, if they are problems at all, and to let the local authorities, police and others, work to keep our neighborhoods.

We all learn bigotry when we are young and most of us spend the rest of our lives fighting to unlearn it. To that we are continually and mutually educating each other at every age that people are people and that strangers are people also and that just they have different pigmentation or speak differently doesn’t mean that they are an exotic species.

This education would happen a lot easier were people like Seifert and Pawlenty willing to play less to the bigotry we all fight, willing to pass up the chance to hot dog it for a vote or two.

It's just a matter of time

It was revealed quickly that the van-school bus accident near Cottonwood this week was caused by inattentive or otherwise defective driving on the part of the van driver.

Now it seems that the van driver, although not yet identified, may have been a person illegally of this country, likely a woman of Hispanic heritage.

Were gambling legal in this state [yeah, sure] it would be interesting if somebody made book on how long it will be before Pawlenty or one of his allies, hot-dogging politically to appeal to others' [and likely their own] bigotry uses this as justification for more cracking down on aliens [which also inherently means darker-skinned people who might be thought of as aliens], especially as to regards driver license labeling.


Just remember folks: This driver had a license. It just wasn't hers. But effective and even-handed enforcement isn't really what they care about anyway.

Preparing for our summer guests [revisited]

The City Council voted 6-1 to obtain the tasers mentioned in my earlier post Preparing for our summer guests [2/15/08]. Councilmember Carter was the only vote against. DPP coverage reminded us that he is the son of a cop. [Yes, “cop” is the word they used, not “police officer.” That is a sign of the linguistic times by itself, I guess.]

In one of today’s Friday mini-editorials, the DPP today noted the vote and said

Some critics have suggested officers will use the weapons, known as Tasers, as "cattle prods'' to control unruly demonstrators. Police say that is not the intention. They say Tasers are used rarely but effectively to subdue dangerous suspects without causing permanent damage.

If demonstrators fear they will be indiscriminately tased, perhaps we could demonstrate our good will in a friendly and egalitarian Minnesota way. When people arrive at the airport for the convention, be they demonstrators or delegates, anarchists or Reaganauts, they will be greeted with a warm smile, given a fruit basket — and tased.

This may seem a bit flippant, but fair. And it would be just as fair were the use of tasers on either side be forsworn ahead of time. But do you think either will happen?

Although I probably will see the council video of this week’s meeting this weekend, so far I have not seen any reference anywhere that indicated whatever reason Councilmember Carter may have given for his opposition, but it has been my observation that councilmembers seldom cast a solitary dissent without either strong reason or feeling.

Preparing for our summer guests

This summer we will be having the Republican National Convention in our city. Even though having it here requires extensive subsidies [and not all private subsidies by a long ways] our powers-that-be decided to get us one of the conventions and the Republicans who have no opposition to using other people’s money jumped first. To be fair, the other side was not above making a similar jump. The GOP just beat them.

It would have been interesting if we had been able to afford both of the conventions and land them both because then we could see if all the preparations we are making would be the same for the Democrats. I am inclined to think that they probably would not be a lot different, but I guess we will never know. Much of what is posted below [or its converse] likely can be said for the Democrats had they chosen us instead of Denver. But don’t let it be said that our city cannot plan for the forthcoming assembling of Republicans here.

So we will be expecting a lot of guests in our city this summer. Some will be the Republicans whom we have explicitly invited. Others will be those who come to protest them and what they are perceived as being or doing, what might be called “counter-Republicans,” guests whose invitation is implicit. If you believed what you learned back in Civics 101 you might have thought that we would want to welcome both. But in Civics 101 they never told you two things. The explicitly invited guests are people of power and money. The counter-Republicans lack both.

We go through the motions of preparing to welcome both types of guests in different ways.

We arrange for lodging, hospitality, and security for the Republicans. We will be taking all appropriate steps [and maybe some inappropriate ones too] to make sure that they all enjoy their subsidized party here. For the counter-Republicans we have for various reasons deferred on even where we will allow them to meet.

But now the city council is considering whether we need 234 [yes, that’s a three-digit number] tasers for the event. While it is not explicitly stated, we can guess which of our groups of visitors these are being acquired for.

The taser acquisition is not a done deal yet, but anybody who doubts that it will soon be should be buying World Series ticket in Kansas City this October. There is a City Council public hearing next Wednesday. If you get past Lord Fletcher’s security to get into the chambers and the arbitrary time limit for testimony is not used up, you might get to say your piece.

It must seem baffling to some of our leaders that counter-Republicans would even want to appear. After all, Republicans have given no important, valid reason to have anybody opposed to them.

The Republicans bring some baggage to our city, but only a little, just a few little things such as waterboarding, record deficits, unwarranted aggression in some countries while keeping a blind eye to civil liberties in other countries that we don’t think we dare invade, forthcoming Guantanamo star chambers, religious imperialism, regressive tax policies, gay baiting, race baiting, using the Justice Department to disenfranchise, and pandering on border security.

They are not bringing any major baggage, certainly not enough to justify any kind of group protest. After all, for little things like these, can’t we just write our filibustering Senators and let them take care of things?

But we don’t want to embarrass our governor and our local authorities need to prove that just because there is theoretical DFL control of our city that we cannot be as strong and repressive as the authorities elsewhere.

Similar things could be said about those who are being explicitly invited to Denver this year [e.g., failure to support our nation’s security providers, record deficits, unwarranted aggression in some countries while keeping a blind eye to the lack of civil liberties in others that we don’t think we dare to invade, trading with China and sending our jobs there, and even making trade with China easier, intolerance of religious people, overtaxing, fostering a negative attitude toward white, straight Christians, attempting to crowd voter roles with people who ought not to vote, and pandering on national security.]

But can any of these reasons be sufficient for busybodies to try to ruin any Party’s party? Really?

[When you get right down to it, I don’t know if the tasers are necessary. Based on things reported recently about them, their use seems seldom wise, but there may be more than I understand. But going for the tasers before we arrange for the safety of all of our guests seems a bit out of sequence.]

A Note On Immigration

Immigration is already becoming an issue for next year’s elections.. I suppose you could say that I am pro-immigrant. It somehow just seems what this country is about: people coming here for a variety of reasons trying to better themselves. Some people are concerned because the new arrivals, legal or otherwise, speak different languages or worship other gods.

Some say that they are not opposed to illegal immigration, just illegal immigration. Some may come from a legitimate fear about terrorism, but there really is not much correlation between terrorism and illegal immigration. Timothy McVeigh was native grown. Almost all of the September 11^th hijackers got in here legally. I suspect that most people who say they are only opposed to illegal immigration are really more concerned about immigrants whose skin is darker than theirs.

Although Spanish was being spoken in this country a century before Jamestown we panic when people use the language and start wondering who is up to what. We put far more border control personnel on the border with Mexico than we do the much-longer border with British North America [aka Canada]. The northern border, much longer and more porous, is an open invitation for people with less than good intentions to come in. And there is history for being concerned about the northern border. Remember the Millennium Plot? For that matter, remember whose shelling of Fort McHenry our national anthem was written about? Despite the history and the opportunity, we concentrate on the south.

If national security is the reason for Border Control and ICE [which are parts of the Department of Homeland Security], Border Control and ICE are looking the wrong way.

And so are so many of the rest of us.

Vaya con dios.

Welcome to Minnesota?? [Nothing is allowed division

In today’s Mpls. paper there is a story about where Minnesota people can now smoke, since their own state continues to assault their basic human freedoms [see October 1^st post].

They suggest Hudson. I haven’t been there for a while, but may need to make a trip soon. I assume that MnDot still has the sign on west-bound I-94 just west of the St. Croix which welcomes people to our state. I live here,
but I wonder if I will really feel welcome when I see it.

Welcome to Minnesota?? [Nobel division]

This blog is primarily about local matters so this piece is perhaps a little misplaced, but it does involve local universities.

Being awarded a Nobel prize has to be some kind of personal accreditation in whatever one is doing. I do not agree all the time with who gets them and nobody reallyl cares about that. And, of course, they don’t ask me ahead of time abut whom they shuold tap for the honor. But most of them seem to make a fair amount of sense.

So it seems a little surprising that a local semi-Catholic university which has expanded beyond its Merriam Park roots would deny a chance for a bishop, a successor of the apostles, somebody who has been given the Nobel prize for peace to speak on its campus next year. Metro State will extend a welcome instead.

Bishop Tutu’s primary offense to the Merriam Park educational institution seems to be suggesting that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians might not be the fault of just one side and the both sides are unequally represented in various governments’ power structures, including the United States. Since few conflicts are ever just one person’s or group’s fault and power structures are never evenly balanced, this hardly seems like a radical opinion.

The administration of St. Thomas is undoubtedly free to invite, not invite, or disinvite pretty much whomever it wishes. But students and patrons might want to continually monitor who does and does not get invited there in the future. When a Nobel laureate bishop doesn’t pass muster, we wonder who can. Likely these students and patrons are going to end up disappointed.

And I trust that the good bishop will get the welcome on the East Side that Merriam Park cannot give.