Saint Paul 2008

A brief interlude, in the hopes that some of you angry young men and women are Apple geeks: Are there any devices - network cards, routers, whatever - on the market that aren’t Apple products, but would have hardware MAC addresses “belonging” to Apple?
I know MAC addresses can be spoofed, of course - I’m […]

The FBI is watching people involved with the 2008 RNC convention protests, however peripherally.

Every time we dare to question, or worse yet, criticize any of the groups, committees, or collectives planning and organizing protests and demonstrations at the 2008 RNC Convention here in St. Paul, lots and lots of angry activistas yell at us, like we’re the enemy or something. So, with eye- and hearing-protection firmly in […]

The St. Paul city council has voted (unanimously) to create a special advisory panel to “oversee demonstrations” at the 2008 RNC convention here, vowing to treat protesters “with the same respect and honor accorded to conventioneers.”
Like many local government actions, everybody loses with this decision. The demonstrators and protesters lose, in that they want […]

Two articles in the past few days touch on the demonstrations and protests predicted to take place during the 2008 RNC convention here in St. Paul - one in the Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota newspaper, is highly entertaining, despite having no real purpose or point (but such is the case with many of […]

Will the FBI codeword for their monitoring of protestors at the 2008 RNC Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota be “STREP”?

Evidently our local activists are dissatisfied with the treatment they’re receiving from the City ahead of the 2008 RNC Convention in St Paul. “It’s a convention, not a catastrophe,” warned Matt Bostrom, our Assistant Chief of Police. Alliterative assertions aside, we’re skeptical that many in the anti-war, anti-globalisation, anti-republican, anti-imperialism, anti-damn-near-everything movements are […]

Pheasants Forever announced this morning that they’ve chosen the RiverCentre complex in St. Paul as the location for the 2008 National Pheasant Fest. No words on dates just yet, but this years’ convention ran 19-21 January; things could get fun if Pheasant Fest coincides with the 2008 Figure Skating Championships here, which run 20-27 […]

As we noted here, 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of Minnesota’s statehood, and it looks like planning is well under way to celebrate this anniversary.

Politically, Minnesota can be baffling to outsiders, as it flip-flops from Republican to Democratic control, elects unusual characters into office, and generally fails to behave in a conventional political fashion. A quote in a recent (Saint Paul) Pioneer Press article on area history provides as good an insight as any into Minnesota:
Ron Cockriel, of […]