News Cut: September 24, 2008 Archive

The way girls dress

Posted at 12:57 AM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

A school board member in the Perham-Dent School District has given public voice to something we old curmudgeons have been muttering since the days when we dropped our kids off at school: how do those girls get out of the house dressed like that?

"They looked like they were at a brothel rather than at a football game," said Bridgit Pankonin at a recent school board meeting, as reported by the Worthington Daily Globe (registration possibly required).

The Minnesota State High School League spectator conduct policy says only that attire must cover the entire torso.

In the end, the school board decided not to try to legislate the attire girls -- or boys for that matter -- wear away from school, figuring that merely raising the subject would start a conversation in the district.

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Financial reform from top to bottom

Posted at 9:04 AM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

A key issue in the bailout discussion on Capitol Hill is whether there'll be any help for people holding "toxic mortgages."

MPR's Dan Olson and Sasha Aslanian have done a tremendous job chronicling the case of a woman in Minneapolis who is one of those people who politicians say needs help.

Faith Burns owes about $209,000 on a home that's now worth about $120,000. She refinanced several times, and took equity out of the home to finance a business boarding up vacant homes.

But what form the help for homeowners the Democrats say needs to be in the bailout bill would take isn't entirely clear. Especially since there's no agreement on what contribution homeowners made, if any, to the crisis. Sen. Charles Schumer, opening hearings today with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the American people are "blameless" in this mess. Is that entirely true?

As the San Francisco Chronicle documents today, there's almost as much anger in parts of America at bailing out homeowners as there is bailing out the financial firms.

But there's a strong pushback against that sentiment on some parts of Main Street among citizens and legislators who think it's not fair for taxpayers to have to pay the tab for people who borrowed beyond their means.

"Nobody was ever forced to borrow money," said Patrick Killelea of Menlo Park, who runs the popular Patrick.net "housing bubble blog" Web site. "People who borrowed too much money made a mistake. If they can do that with impunity, they will keep on doing it."

The very end of Dan and Sasha's story this morning had -- I have to admit -- a troubling notation:

Burns lost the business she ran for ten years, boarding up abandoned properties for the City of Minneapolis. She's looking for a job, and she's planning on forming an investment club so she can play the stock market.

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A look at the Petters Group

Posted at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

This can't be good. The feds are raiding the offices of the Petters Group, a fairly secretive private company that buys up distressed companies and then tries to turn them around -- Fingerhut, Polaroid, Sun Country Airlines are some of the company's handiwork.

Last fall, MPR's Marty Moylan profiled Tom Petters.

Petters started the "bottom feeder" businesses when he was 15, selling audio equipment out of his parents' home when the stereo shop he worked in went out of business. He doesn't have an MBA, he dropped out of college after one term, and he owns a house in Minnetonka valued at $5 million. He also has a mansion in Florida.

And he's well-connected politically, giving large amounts of money to both Republicans (Sen. Norm Coleman) and Democrats (Rep. Jim Oberstar and state Sen. Terri Bonoff). CampaignMoney.com lists over $8,700 in political contributions this year.

Petters' son was killed in Italy during a college break in 2004. He donated $10 million to his son's school in his memory.

Petters and the man he bought Fingerhut from -- Ted Deikel -- have teamed up most recently in Enable Holdings, a company that sells "large amounts of excess inventory" on five different Web sites.

Many of Petter's company's Web sites -- including the foundation set up in memory of his son -- are not operating today.

Update 4:49 p.m. This statement has been released by the Petters Group:

Petters Group Worldwide said today that at approximately 9:00 a.m. agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and the Minnetonka Police Department arrived at its headquarters to execute a search warrant.

The headquarters building is closed for today and employees were sent home by the law enforcement personnel on the scene.

Andrea Miller, Director of Corporate Communications for Petters Group Worldwide, said that the investigation pertains to one financial entity that Petters is involved with and the investigation does not involve Sun Country, Polaroid, uBid, Fingerhut or Great Waters Media, the magazine group Petters recently acquired.

Miller said that Sun Country Airlines, which is owned by Petters Group Worldwide, is not affected by the investigation and continues to fly its normal scheduled and charter operations.

Petters Group Worldwide is cooperating fully with the investigation. The company will make additional information available as it is known

Petters Group Worldwide is a privately held company and as an active manager, they support the organizations they invest in by achieving investment synergies with services, financing and leveraging resources to support growth. The core areas of focus for Petters Group are merchandising, brand management, technology, aviation, real estate and investment capital.

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Why polls don't tell us anything

Posted at 1:50 PM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Here are three headlines today, all purporting to have taken the political temperature of the nation's swing states.

Word of the day: Pig

Posted at 2:08 PM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

I haven't done one of these in months -- the recurring theme in news stories.

Today? Pigs.

Debate fate

Posted at 3:10 PM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (26 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

John McCain announced this afternoon he's suspending his campaign to head back to Washington to focus on the economic crisis. This, of course,comes in the wake McCain dropping the early part of the Republican National Convention in order to focus attention on Hurricane Gustav, which was nowhere near as devastating as Hurricane Ike, through which, for the record, the McCain campaign went on without missing a beat.

Is this trend of canceling things to "focus" actual work? Or a political ploy. What's your opinion?

I'll be updating the story here as we go:

3:11 p.m. Statement of the University of Mississippi

The University of Mississippi is going forward with the preparation for the debate. We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned. At present, the University has received no notification of any change in the timing or venue of the debate. We have been notified by the Commission on Presidential Debates that we are proceeding as scheduled. We will keep you posted as information becomes available.

3:37 p.m. Here's the full statement on the McCain Web site, including this:

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

3:46 p.m. Reactions:

"The longest Hail Mary pass in the history of football...or Marys." - Rep. Barney Frank

"Brilliant positioning. Senator McCain now looks presidential by putting politics aside during this major financial crisis. Suspending the campaign really plays to his "Country First" theme and allows him to project big picture thinking." - Ron Bonjean, Republican strategist (via Politico)

"McCain's gambit puts Obama in a tough place. Agree with McCain's call to suspend the campaign and Obama looks like a follower, not a leader. Reject the move and Obama runs the risk of losing the high ground on post-partisanship and the need to change the way Washington does business." - Chris Cillizza, Washington Post blogger

4:40 p.m. - Is there a consensus in America on the bailout. Judging by the two polls on News Cut this week, people -- by wide margins don't want a bailout for the financial industry and don't want a bailout for homeowners. There is a wide split in most polls on the bailout issue. When people are not only saying "no," but "hell, no," how do you reach consensus with people who are saying "yes"?

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