I was reading the Minneapolis Star-Tribune this morning, the usual coffee-paper morning ritual. I glanced at a picture of a soldier sleeping on a hospital bench, sleeping with his arm thrown over his eyes. I commented to my wife that my dad, who served in the army in the early 60's still sleeps like that... old habits I guess. My daughter wanted to see the picture, which I showed her. She asked me why he was sleeping like that and I explained that they couldn't turn out the lights in the hospital and that when you are a soldier it is important to get sleep when you can. She then asked me a question that really gets to me.

"Daddy, do army people ever sleep, or do they keep on warring forever?"

I was stunned. I tried to explain that the war will be over eventually, but we don't really know when. Think of it from her perspective, we have been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost as far back as she can remember. So to her, war is the natural state of the world. This is not the way I wanted to have my children become cognizant of the wider world. It past time to get our country out of the mess we created in Iraq.

Public paid for idled wind farms

Xcel lacks the capacity to transmit all the wind power, so it pays for some machines to remain idle, and passes the cost to customers.
Tom Meersman, Star Tribune

Last update: June 01, 2006 – 11:12 PM

Xcel Energy electricity customers have paid millions of dollars for wind energy that was never produced, according to documents filed with state regulators.

snip

Xcel paid wind developers about $10.4 million -- called "curtailment payments" -- for wind-generated electricity that it could not accept from February 2004 through May 2005, according to a report by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

snip

Xcel officials said curtailment payments are a legal and effective tool to develop wind power. The payments are unavoidable, they said, because it takes only a few months to build a large wind farm but it requires several years to construct the transmission lines to move the power the farm produces.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/46871...


What the hell? This last paragraph doesn't make any sense to me. Why would the management of Xcel spend millions on a wind farm when they don't have the capacity to transmit the power? Something is screwy here.

I was listening to Minnesota Matters on Air America this afternoon on my way home and they quoted some dumb-ass righty talking about how we live in a post 9/11 world blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. I honestly can't even remember what he was talking about.

The * mis-administration is no longer allowed to mention 9/11. They blew it, they have shot their proverbial wad on this one. The rest of the world sees right through this obvious political manipulation. I call bullshit.

On Edit:

Spelling (jeesh!)

In Minnesota last night we had our precinct caucuses. I proposed a resolution to have the legislature of minnesota vote to impeach president bush and vp cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors. My name is on the document and it was passed unanimously by my precinct to be sent up to the next level. Funny, there was no argument or disagreement. Not even much discussion, everyone was very much behind the idea. Here comes the double-tap to the head.

My mom sent this to me, I had to share....

Written by a retired Methodist minister

Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.
He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy term,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.......aghhhhhhhhhh.......