MH: Any time the reality of what has happened to those who have few resources but still make the effort to struggle for democracy and fairness is pointed out....those who protect the interests of the wealthy and powerful cry out--- Not Nice, Not Fair. Our last Mayor did resort to the police on more than one occasion and the police and National Guard regarding Hi-Way 55. Our current Mayor also is aligning himself with these same power brokers... so it is a reasonable question to wonder if he will resort to the same tactics when the interests of the rich and powerful are even slightly threatened. And many of our City Council and County Commissioners are doing the same. The indecipherable difference between Democrats and Republicans continues to make me shake my head. (no I am not a Green). I had to keep reminding myself that Mike Opat is a Democrat given his stances. Ostrow stays behind the scenes, but I am convinced he does a huge amount of wheeling and dealing. This city is being sold down the river and the apologists for those who are doing it can only cry out "be nice."
JP: And anytime those without a plan of action, or goals, or a clearly defined mission find an opportunity to create a soapbox and a name for themselves, they will. And when they cannot handle being questioned and have no specific point other than "those people are bad" they will try and group anyone who disagrees with them in as "apologists" and defenders of the status quo. It is a sad sad thing to be so immersed in attack politics and bereft of any sort of actual plan or goal to have to resort to playground namecalling as a means of creating a use for oneself. No Margaret it isn't reasonable to speculate about the Mayor's action in such a leading way, merely because he holds the same title or "aligns himself with the same power brokers" anymore than it is right for me to speculate about when you will be burning crosses on my lawn. After all, you are White and you have expressed displeasure at my being "uppitty" and questioning you, and since the Klan is White and approaches most Blacks the same way, "only time will tell..." No Margaret, speculation of that nature is irresponsible and misleading and keeps people from addressing the real problem. Stand up for the rights of people, but come to this debate with a point and some support. How about the fact that sports teams are multimillion dollar (sometimes billion dollar) enterprises and don't need the money that could be better spent in improving the lives of those most in need? How about the lack of living wage jobs that will be provided, or the fact that most will be filled by people from Edina and Eden Prairie? How about the fact that more important things can be done with the money such as creating more and better housing, targeting low-income and impoverished communities with economic and resource development? How about just some facts? Who's the Mayor aligning himself with, how's he doing this, what evidence do you have besides reading the Lisa saw Lee Sheehy at a basketball game? Do you have anything besides speculation? The City's being sold down the river? How? Got a suggestion on how we can address it? What is it? How about bringing some real ideas to the table instead of fantasy? Jonathan Palmer Victory REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
