My work takes me to out state Minnesota now and then, and the other week, I found myself walking down a small town Main Street with its stores and street lights all decked out for the holidays. It was snowing and I was suddenly transported back to a Christmas before...

A friend of ours laid an eight-ounce jar of her fresh strawberry preserves on us last week, and for the briefest moment (the jar only lasted for one breakfast) life was as sweetly normal as the Eisenhower Administration.

I spread a spoonful on my toast, took a bite, and...

Washington--Get out the banjo and tune the fiddle. In what is seen as a concession to the religious right wing of their party, Republican leaders have appointed a snake handling fundamental Christian, House Chaplain when the 112th Congress convenes in January.

Reverend Longstreet Lee Tubwater of the Eastern Tennessee...

I have never met a carbohydrate I didn't like. And, this time of year in Minnesota, carbohydrates are everywhere.

At the office potluck Holiday party. In mail order packages from family, friends, and business associates. Stacked on silver trays on sidebars. In bowls with salsa and bean dip on...

It's Thanksgiving week in Minnesota, and in small town public works departments all over the state, maintenance guys are digging out the town Holiday decorations and heading for Main Street.

Dented sheet metal snowmen wearing top hats and mufflers. Big plastic snowflakes. Dusty green plastic garlands. Rusty candy canes....

Well this is it. The end of the Earmark Era. Republicans have come back to town with a mandate to cut spending, and they say they really mean it this time.

And what better way to end the Earmark Era than by earmarking funds for an Earmark Museum?

I...

A lot of inside the beltway talking heads and journalists have claimed a special understanding of working class Pennsylvania voters lately.

They say they understand working class Pennsylvanians because they come from Pennsylvania themselves. Or because their fathers belonged to a union. Or worked in a factory. Or drank beer....

BAGHDAD -- A company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions on Tuesday night in Sadr City, defying American soldiers who implored them to hold the line against Shiite militias.
The retreat left a crucial stretch of road on the front lines undefended for hours and led to a tense...

Dear people responsible for cable television news,

Why exactly won't the you get-to-hell off the Pastor Wright story?

There's no new news there. Absolutely none. But there you are, breathlessly churning it, showing the same silly footage, working it for one more cycle.

If I didn't know better, I'd...

"The reality is I'll run against somebody whose temperament has been such, whose style has been such of (sic) being incredibly divisive and incredibly angry."

- Senator Norm Coleman (R, MN)

Minneapolis - There is an air of malevolent mediocrity around Norm Coleman as he dons...

Lost in the noise surrounding Eliot Spitzer's fall yesterday was the news that oil topped $110 a barrel.

Yessir. $110 a barrel.

Now that Mr. Spitzer has joined the ranks of the newly-and-foolishly-irrelevant (Mr. Spitzer, have you met Senator Craig?) let's hope the mainstream and cable media types will...

So here's the question du jour:

Any more Spitzer-like crapola hanging out there among you Democratic super delegates?

Any hookers? Blow? Airport bathroom sex? Text messages to pages? Overnight Boy Scout trips? Land deals? Golf outings? Romps in hot tubs -- gay or hetero? Sweetheart earmarks?

Anything at all?

Say NBC -- now that you're canceling Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC, why don't you give him Tim Russert's chair on Meet The Press?

Carlson is younger, better-looking and faster-talking. He's mastered the art of silencing people with whom he disagrees by talking over them (a skill Mr. Russert...

As I begin to write this, CNN.com has a big red banner across their home page. It reads: "Breaking News: AP: President Bush's top economic adviser says economic growth may be negative for the current quarter."

No sh*t, Sherlock.

And now George Bush is on TV, talking about how the...

So I'm watching MSNBC's primary coverage on the Chinese flat screen TV my Republican brother-in-law (who's doing real well under George W. Bush) gave us for Christmas. The cable connection is really good. Chris Mathews is on screen practically having an orgasm at the prospect of Clinton and Obama going...

Saint Paul - For months now, the powers that be in Saint Paul have vowed that, come the Republican Convention next fall, "The City of Saint Paul will be a First Amendment Zone." That people will be free to come to the city, and express their political views.

But...

Minneapolis -- At some point between here and the 4th of September, John McCain will choose a running mate. One of the names being bandied about is that of Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota.

I believe I speak for the majority of Minnesotans (and Tim Pawlenty has never been elected...

Lost in the mainstream media coverage of the McCain-Obama dust up about Al Qaeda in Iraq is any mention of the role Tim Russert played in initiating the imbroglio.

Like the little manager man in pro wrestling -- the one who tosses the folding chair into the ring when...

Minneapolis -- We have reached the point in our long national nightmare of a presidential primary season when the two remaining Democratic candidates no longer have anything nice to say about one another, yet do not have the luxury of saying nothing at all.

Never mind their...

This just in from a concerned American:

Dear Reverend Governor Huckabee,
My pet schnauzer Winston and I have decided to make life's journey together. We want to be married. The sooner the better. You know how impetuous young lovers can be.

There is only the small question of constitutionality,...