When I read that Southwest Journal "sniffed out" a story on noncooperation with immigration authorities, I wondered once again: Do the small papers really "sniff out" a certain type of story? Or is the real fact that the Star Tribune KNOWS about these stories and decides, for its own corporate reasons, not to publish them. I mean how can anyone QUESTION the news value of such a story? But we know pretty well that commercial media simply don't follow up certain stories that ruffle the feathers of someone important. What we get by watching the most-read news sources is this narrow window on reality which is pointed here or pointed there, depending upon what some corporation thinks we should see and know. Steve Brandt might answer the question in some manner. He knows that news budgets eliminate stories. But what is the real basis of including facts or excluding them? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "The INS estimates that there are currently 60,000 illegal immigrants working in Minnesota. A recent University of Minnesota report stated that undocumented workers pay $1.56 billion annually in Minnesota state taxes and account for $3.8 billion of its gross national product."
Ya know, stuff like this is REALLY interesting to me. Because, you know, this means that employers are illegally paying $3.8 to workers without legal status to WORK in the state. Haven't any of you ever had to fill out an I-9 form and supply two forms of legitimate ID? And then the EMPLOYER has to attest under penalty of law that he/she has SEEN legitimate ID? So it strikes me that there are multiple instances of lawbreaking here. Why is Gary Schiff trying to help facilitate that? He's my CM. I think maybe I'll email him and ask him directly. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Boy, if there's a contest between late night downtown activity, I guess St Paul might as well default. I had to put a letter in the mail for earliest morning pickup, so I visited the main post office on 1st street. Then, since it had been EONS since I looked around my city's downtown area (I worked down there 17 years, but not recently)) I drove around a bit. It was 12:30am, and people were everywhere, and it was well-lit. So, I went via I94 to downtown St Paul. Outside of Mickey's Diner, no sign of human activity at all. Guess that wasn't in Norm's vision. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I want to challenge the naysayers, people to call Minneapolis a "once great city" to find an example to emulate. Tell me some cities with the healthy economy and low unemployment rate we have here. Tell me about cities that have less urban decay than Minneapolis (and don't tell me about bedroom suburbs, I'm not interested, I want to hear about REAL cities). There's no doubt that along with the rest of America, Minnepolis has lost rustbelt industries. But we still produce VAST amounts of wealth. US Bancorp is the 44th most profitable company in America on the 67th largest assets and 273rd largest sales. That is a sign of real brains at work. And then, naysayers, follow that up by showing what YOU do to make things better. Trash-talking Minneapolis on this list is NOT a contribution. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ===== Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community Minneapolis A great town, which can and WILL BE greater! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
