Quick Hits: Volume XXI

-On Monday, Mark Dayton was officially sworn in as Minnesota's 40th Governor. As expected, his ensuing inaugural speech was little more than platitudes and vapid talking points. My pal Mark Heuring gave his two cents on a couple aspects of the speech.

Personally, the following text stood out (emphasis mine).

My top priority is to get Minnesotans working again. The 208,000 who are unemployed. The thousands more who are underemployed, stuck in low-paying dead-end jobs. Whose economic security is shattered. Whose hope for a better future is threatened.

Their futures are also our futures. As our great United States Senator Paul Wellstone said, “We all do better, when we all do better.”

Translation: Take from the producers and give to the non-producers. Make the "rich" pay their fair share.

By the way, don't ya love how every Minnesota liberal politician invokes the name of the late Paul Wellstone, as if he's some sort of gold standard? Current Senator Al Franken, another electoral embarrassment, pulled that same stunt upon his assuming office.


-One of the first things I do in the morning is go on the internet to check the local temperature. As I logged into the Strib online, the temp read Zero degrees. So when my wife came downstairs and asked me for the temperature, I merely told her "there isn't one."


-While browsing the Strib this morning, I also came across a story where a Christian organization is convinced very soon it will be (with apologies to R.E.M.) the end of the world as we know it.

If there had been time, Marie Exley would have liked to start a family. Instead, the 32-year-old Army veteran has less than six months left, which she'll spend spreading a stark warning: Judgment Day is almost here.

Exley is part of a movement of Christians loosely organized by radio broadcasts and websites, independent of churches and convinced by their reading of the Bible that the end of the world will begin May 21, 2011.

About 23 years ago, I read a book entitled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Ms. Exley is welcome to borrow it if she is so inclined.

"A lot of people might think, 'The end's coming, let's go party,'" said Exley, a veteran of two deployments in Iraq. "But we're commanded by God to warn people. I wish I could just be like everybody else, but it's so much better to know that when the end comes, you'll be safe."

Speaking of party, May 21, 2011 happens to be the date when the fetching Mrs. Carlson celebrates a certain milestone birthday. As such, we have already scheduled a party for her on that very day. So if indeed Ms. Exley and her colleagues are correct, it goes without saying that there will be a change in venue for our planned soiree.

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