Paulsen at St. Olaf Commencement

The lifeless math major spoke at St. Olaf's commencement ceremony yesterday. You can view the entire event here. No anti-Paulsen protest materialized.

It was a gorgeous, hot sunny Saturday afternoon for late May. The droning bore invited the Class of '09 to imagine the marvel when they are invited back to speak at the 2031 ceremony. Paulsen discusses no serious matters of governance or citizenship. His talk is pure chloroform, as predicted, asphyxiating the opposition and thus requiring no embarrassing gestures of support from his base. Without reaching out to the non-Lutheran, Paulsen draws attention repeatedly to his Christian belief. He mentions several collegiate pranks and how, unable to afford a semester in Europe comparing various political systems there, he met with St. Olaf's president who assisted Paulsen in making the dream happen. Paulsen establishes no intimate bond with his audience--nor does he attempt any. He's the Class of 1987's graying clock watcher, returning to inspire the nasal dullards of the future.

No one seems to notice; the audience responds unenthusiastically. The faculty--embarrassed at having to participate in this rite of middle class identity formation--applaud with minimal energy.

Remembering Minneapolis' 1934 Teamster Strike

The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library sponsor a local labor history series called Untold Stories. On Saturday we took a tour of sites associated with the 1934 Teamster Strike, led by labor historian Dave Riehle. We took the tour on the restored--and last remaining--early '50s Minneapolis city bus.

Our tour ventured forth on the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1934 conflict, when Trotskyite-led Teamsters fought management's Citizens' Alliance--by summer's end turning Minneapolis into a union town.

David Strom Ponders Paulsen's BBA Position

Barbara Allen, Jeff Blodgett and David Strom

I attended a Carleton luncheon downtown on Friday, on Barack Obama's first 100 days. Political Science Prof. Barbara Allen moderated the unrevealing discussion with Jeff Blodgett and David Strom.

David Strom led the Taxpayers League of Minnesota for four years and the Minnesota Free Market Institute for two. He has a radio show and is a fellow at the Claremont Institute; he's a large player in Minnesota politics.

After the program on the fortieth floor of US Bank Plaza, I spoke with Strom, who'd mentioned earlier he'd recently converted to Catholicism. (I ask if he'd care to defend transubstantiation or the all-male priesthood; he declines.)

I tell Strom that my congressman--Rep. Erik Paulsen--vocally supported the Balanced Budget Amendment during last fall's campaign. So I ask Strom if he supports the Balanced Budget Amendment? No, he doesn't. Strom explains that it wouldn't make sense to arbitrarily select the 365-day time unit as the period during which the budget must be brought into balance. He says he might support a Balanced Budget Amendment if that period were adjusted to five years. (Your response, Rep. Paulsen?)

Strom explains that Paulsen is simply deploying a political symbol with his support for the BBA--he knows it will never pass and if it did it would cause economic havoc. But doesn't Paulsen's support cause a political problem, since he's therefore advocating passage of legislation he simultaneously believes ought to be unconstitutional? No--Strom reassures--no one cares about that.

So I've now contacted quite a number of strong Paulsen supporters--and Rep. Paulsen himself--trying to find out whether Erik Paulsen still supports the Balanced Budget Amendment. David Strom is the first to offer an answer, explaining that Paulsen doesn't sincerely support the Balanced Budget Amendment--it's just a shtick he's performing for his constituents, whom the congressman is sure are too naive to notice.

Wingnutfest At Grace Church

Eden Prairie's market leader in squinting and dunking

In Eden Prairie a rather bitter cultural politics stews. Grace Church--the local Christianist megachurch--holds fast to a number of nutty superstitions, making it an especially ill-suited venue for a community-wide event or ceremony. So 'conservatives' have been holding a Salute to Veterans program there for ten years, as they did a week ago. Holding the event 'at Grace' is considered a clever way to stick it to the liberals: The wingnut right is presented as the voice of moderation and apple pie, while liberals engage in me too statements which Michele Bachmann never quite deems adequate. The bargain is nonsensical; their side shouldn't be allowed to impose parameters in this manner.

At last year's event, former NASA astronaut Jack Lousma thrilled the audience, saying:

"There are threats on the horizon. We have two enemies, one external and one internal. Both are working to destroy our society ... the enemy without is Islamic jihad.

“The second enemy is the enemy within, which is secularism, whose aim is to remove God from America,” Lousma went on. “America was founded as a Christian nation. America is a Christian nation. Our people, our churches need to shed our complacency.” [As The Eden Prairie News' John Molene then reported.]

With generous regret, Lousma added that 'Muslims who did not want to accept local values should “shape up or get out.” '

At this year's program, keynote speaker--and former Navy Secretary--John Dalton said [props again to The EP News' John Molene]:

"You can do anything you set out to do"..."The Apostle Paul walked that path 2,000 years ago"..."By following Jesus, we can all be there."

Grace Church's Dean Morin moronically amplified:

"You can't talk about liberty without the author of liberty, Jesus Christ"..."It takes great courage to be a soldier, and to confess to Jesus Christ."

But there's hope on the horizon: Young people are avoiding Grace's annual Wingnutfest in droves. Grace Church member Bill Wiedenbacher said, 'The only thing I was disappointed in was the number of young people attending. They're the ones who need to see this.'

And perhaps they don't.

Grace's governing 'Council of Elders'