"Without process, we have mob rule."
How very BRITISH this sounds. Look, open meetings are PART of the legal process. This thing was rammed through with NO period for public comment. So, we didn't have any "process" here. We had an insider, smoke-filled-room deal. Jennings was chosen in hopes to kiss up to Sviggum and other enemies at the state level. Don't try to make this into a "rule of law" thing because it isn't. I happen to think Jennings is a FAR more reasonable guy than Pawlenty, Sviggum, or any of the ideologues who now harass Minneapolis at the state level. But there's no WAY that elections settle everything. If that were true, then we wouldnt have Truth-in-Taxation hearings which some of the people here like so much to go to and rant about their taxes. Is that "mob rule"? Not hardly. I don't know that I agree with the perspective of the African American community. But like Voltaire, I'll defend to the death their right to SCREAM BLOODY MURDER when they think they've been outflanked. There isn't a defender of Jennings here who wouldn't do the same thing if THEIR ox had just been gored. I don't know if we'll ever have a "no spin zone" here, but I expect that some of us will have to keep skewering the spin every time it pops up. And another thing, some people refer to the African American community as a "subset". Trouble is, that is the subset for which this system isn't working. It is the subset with which the district should have the BEST communications, not the worst. And they have learned the hard way that ONLY by squeaking will the get any attention at all. And the fact that some here just blow them off or try to marshal "racism" to belittle their sentiments should only confirm the necessity of what they are doing.
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Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
"whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"----Declaration of Independence
Mob Rule:
"Without process, we have mob rule."
How very BRITISH this sounds. Look, open meetings are PART of the legal process. This thing was rammed through with NO period for public comment. So, we didn't have any "process" here. We had an insider, smoke-filled-room deal. Jennings was chosen in hopes to kiss up to Sviggum and other enemies at the state level. Don't try to make this into a "rule of law" thing because it isn't. I happen to think Jennings is a FAR more reasonable guy than Pawlenty, Sviggum, or any of the ideologues who now harass Minneapolis at the state level. But there's no WAY that elections settle everything. If that were true, then we wouldnt have Truth-in-Taxation hearings which some of the people here like so much to go to and rant about their taxes. Is that "mob rule"? Not hardly. I don't know that I agree with the perspective of the African American community. But like Voltaire, I'll defend to the death their right to SCREAM BLOODY MURDER when they think they've been outflanked. There isn't a defender of Jennings here who wouldn't do the same thing if THEIR ox had just been gored. I don't know if we'll ever have a "no spin zone" here, but I expect that some of us will have to keep skewering the spin every time it pops up.
Demographics
Found a good site for Minneapolis demographics, quite unexpectedly when trying to find out demographics for the Portland Oregon school population (of which I was a part long, long ago).
http://www.ersys.com/usa/27/2743000/educate.htm
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Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
"whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"----Declaration of Independence
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