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News Cut: April 9, 2009 Archive

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Five at 8 - 4/9/09

Posted at 8:00 AM on April 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Pirates, plastic surgery, portly pupils, pencil sketches, and paper clippy. All in one, ummmm, post.

  • Los Angeles media covers plastic surgery the way Minnesota covers hockey. But this is a different yarn to give you a Thursday lift. It's the story of Ana Rodarte, who suffers from neurofibromatosis, which made her retreat from the world. It's a story of how a plastic surgeon is changing her life, and a reminder, too, that we often are surrounded by Neanderthals, like the community college administrator who tried to put her in a class for learning disabled, because her face was disfigured. One interesting aspect of the story: it shifts to first-person storytelling partway into it. Very odd. (Los Angeles Times)

  • In Massachusetts, the schools are going to start sending notes home with students if they're getting obese. This is an effort that started a few years ago in Arkansas and, yes, I know you can see it coming: How does this impact the kid's self-esteem? Self-esteem, schmelf esteem! A Star Tribune article today says we've gone too far on that scene anyway.

  • So the spies have put trojan horses on the nation's electric grid? Some say it's overhyped speculation, but utility companies have been absolutely silent on the story; that's not a good sign. As for the counterstrike, I say let's go with the nuclear option : Let's put Clippy on their systems.

  • Announcing the Stick Figure Science Contest. Florida Citizens for Science is holding a contest, soliciting cartoons that explain scientific flaws in the discussion of evolution. The organizer asks, "what can you make fun of while trying to educate the public?" I ask: What can't you?

  • There's not much the U.S. can do to prevent the kind of piracy we're seeing off the coast of Somalia this week, the Associated Press reports. Still, there's quite a show of force being assembled. The Web site for the USS Bainbridge, a destroyer that's leading the pack, isn't working today; at least for me.

    WHAT'S ON TODAY?

    Midmorning - In the first hour, Kerri Miller asks, "Has America moved to the left?" A wild guess based on the November election results: Yes. In the second hour, mystery author Walter Mosley.

    Midday -- The second crest of the Red River in Fargo. MPR's Dan Gunderson will be the guest and there'll be an appearance by one of the most intriguing people in the upper Midwest -- Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker. One of the best quips I heard when I was in Moorhead a few weeks ago was, "When Walaker says 'no,' it doesn't mean, 'let's talks about it.'"

    Here's the flood forecast as of 7AM.

    hydro_7am_apr9.jpg

    As near as I can tell, the forecast is running about a half-foot higher than it was yesterday. But the actual river level today is still going down.

    Talk of the Nation -- Neal Conan decodes Robert Gates' defense budget, which gives me an excuse to slap some Daily Show stuff here.

    The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
    Full Metal Budget
    thedailyshow.com
    Daily Show
    Full Episodes    		Economic CrisisPolitical Humor

    In the second hour, they'll talk about gay marriage.

    All Things Considered - Say, what happens to Worldperks after all evidence that Northwest Airlines ever existed is extinguished? Marty Moylan has the answer.
    The folks in Washington will also look at Frank Zappa's legacy, tightly controlled -- it says here -- by his widow and child. And David Was has recommendations for what music to play while you're doing your taxes. See, that's why they call it All Things Considered.


    DON'T MISS

    Professor Tim Nelson's explanation of why it's hard to forecast flooding in the Red River. If I pass this course, I'm hoping to take Fargo Mayor Walaker's class, "How to use gut feel and experience to correctly predict a flood crest."

    (2 Comments)

    • Terrorism is complicated

    Posted at 11:10 AM on April 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
    Filed under: Crime and Justice

    peace_protest.jpg

    The Ramsey County Attorney's Office today dropped terrorism charges against 8 people involved in protests surrounding the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

    According to County Attorney Susan Gaertner, it's because the state's terrorism law "complicates the case." She also said it was "distracting," according to her news release:


    The terrorism law, enacted by the 2002 Minnesota Legislature, provides longer sentences for felony crimes that involve premeditation and violence to persons or property and which are intended, among other things, to intimidate the public and disrupt the right of lawful assembly. In this case, however, the state's Sentencing Guidelines provide for stayed prison sentences with jail time, fines and other sanctions as possible conditions of probation. Thus, the defendants would not face longer prison sentences if convicted under the terrorism sentencing enhancement.

    (Read the full release here.)

    It's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the usefulness of the law passed by the Legislature in the immediate aftermath of September 11.

    "Distracting" and "complicated" are two words that weren't uttered back when the issue was being debated.

    "These are extraordinary times, and with extraordinary times come extraordinary measures," then state-rep (now Hennepin County sheriff) Rich Stanek said. "For the last several years, the pendulum has swung greatly in favor of open meeting laws, access by the public, freedom of information, and I think that's good to an extent, but then you have Sept. 11 roll around, and now you see the pendulum swinging the other way."

    At the time, much of the debate focused on foreigners. You may remember the controversy over issuing foreigners color-coded visa cards.

    All 8 of those charged in the aftermath of the convention were white Americans. Nobody saw that coming in a case like this. Or did they?

    "A charge of this nature significantly chills political speech," Bruce Nestor, a Minneapolis attorney said after their arrest on the terrorism charges.

    "We're talking about legislation that will effect the civil rights of all people in Minnesota and, unfortunately, no one realizes or very few people realize what the extent of this legislation is," Peter Erlinder, a professor of constitutional law at the William Mitchell College of Law, said in 2002.


    (9 Comments)

    America's stiff upper lip

    Posted at 2:24 PM on April 9, 2009 by Bob Collins
    Filed under: Media, News

    It's usually interesting to see how others view us. Matt Frei, who hosts the BBC's World News America, has noticed that the (primarily) cable TV newsies are growing more "emotional" (in evaluating that term, remember that the English called World War II "the unpleasantness").

    But we the American public are not:


    The collapse of the economy, the outrage of unwarranted bonuses, Ponzi schemes and designer trash-cans have brought the pitchforks out of the cellar. We are finally getting a genuine bonfire of vanities.

    And yet I am surprised how generally calm and collected the American public has behaved, despite the best efforts of some of my colleagues to tease out their fury.

    Perhaps it is because they have just had an opportunity to express their feelings where it matters: at the ballot box.

    Perhaps it is because they still believe that judicious government can fix things.

    Or maybe it is because all the ranting and raging is being done on their behalf. On air.

    The war on parenthood

    Posted at 3:17 PM on April 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (21 Comments)
    Filed under: Life

    kellor_children.jpgThe worst part about being a parent is not the terrible twos or even the teenage years. It's people too willing to tell you you're doing it -- or did it -- wrong.

    Several stories in the "news" today are intended to raise questions about the way we raise our children. In today's Star Tribune, various "experts" decry the "self-esteem" movement ", "in which parents and teachers were told to reward and stroke kids pretty much constantly, supposedly to make them confident."
    If all kids get is kudos, it can be a recipe for lots of therapy later, he says: What are they going to do when they get even the slightest bit of criticism later in life, in college or on the job?
     Well, OK, but what's wrong with that paragraph? "If all kids get is kudos...." is hardly the underpinning of parents who are interested in instilling confidence in their developing children. It's an argument built on a faulty assumption.

    The article also says the "good eye" or "good swing" you hear parents yell at youth baseball games is also misplaced.

    National Public Radio's Fresh Air also jumped into the fray this week with an interview with psychologist Richard Weissbourd, author of a book called "The Parents We Mean to Be." He takes on the ways to raise a moral child, with the clear admonition that that we're not very good at it.
    Yet we also found much that is troubling. Some adults hold misguided beliefs about raising moral children, and some parents have little investment in their children's character. And the bigger problem is more subtle: a wide array of parents and other adults are unintentionally-- in largely unconscious ways-- undermining the development of critical moral qualities in children.
     Next to losing a fortune in your retirement account, the easiest thing in America is to look at its youth and declare they're entitled, self-absorbed, and poorly parented.

    I say "prove it" with something other than anecdotes. Because I've got anecdotes, too.



    And just to confuse you more, a study out today says parents have no effect on the behavior of kids.

    I've never written a book on parenting, but I'll impart what little wisdom I have on the subject: (1) Do the best you can. (2) If you turned out OK, raise your kids the same way. (3)Hold on tight (4) Ignore people who claim to be experts at raising kids. Anyone who's actually done it and still has a shred of confidence in their parental ability, did it wrong. (21 Comments)

    The burden of fame

    Posted at 4:43 PM on April 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
    Filed under: Surveys and trivia

    What is it about actors who become singers and then go on talk shows and act like jerks?

    On the CBC's Q TV with Jian Ghomeshi yesterday, Billy Bob Thorton channeled Joaquin Phoenix.

    Update 5:28 p.m. - The Current's Mary Lucia told me, "there are too many of them to count," when I asked her about actors turned band members who are difficult interviews. But on the question of interviews in which the host would like to grab the guest by the scruff of the neck, she mentioned this one.

    (h/t: Luke Taylor)

    (3 Comments)
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