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We need a couple of dozen Carl Sagans

By News Team

Fri, Apr 28th, 2006
Posted in Commentary

The Thursday before Earth Day, the 20th, PBS had a National Geographic special featuring Dr. Tyrone Hayes. Hayes, a Harvard trained PhD researcher at the University of California, held an audience at Eagle Bluff Learning Center spellbound for over an hour earlier this month. I hope the PBS program is rerun often.As I watched the PBS program it occurred to me it illustrated some of the problems associated with the interplay between scientists, science, and politicians. This was especially true when held in juxtaposition with recent state and local events.You may remember Dr. Hayes as the scientist “uninvited” by Commissioner of the MPCA, Sheryl Corrigan. He had the word Atrazine in the title of his talk. Even though Atrazine is made by a Swiss Company and has been banned for use in Switzerland and all of the European Union for some time it would be politically incorrect to link it to problems in the agricultural Midwest.Dr. Hayes did testify before the House Ag Committee chaired by our own Greg Davids. I listened to the testimony on the internet. One member of the committee was determined to marginalize the science by insisting caffeine in coffee might be causing the problems with frogs. The idea that this xanthine derivative caused any effect akin to Atrazine was idiotic and it was painful to believe Minnesotans elected someone who would seriously propose such. I hear the voice of an industry lobbyist here.Greg Davids was quoted later in local papers that it was important to hear the bill (a ban on the use of Atrazine). “People got all worked up when they heard it, and it failed on a 13-0 vote. The frogs had a fungus. They were not deformed from Atrazine.”Dr. Hayes research did not claim Atrazine was responsible for deformities in frogs. His research found Atrazine caused male frogs to become hermaphrodites and form eggs in their testicles rather than sperm. It caused immune deficiencies that made the frogs more susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections (causing deformities). It caused neurologic development problems resulting in adult frogs being crippled and unable to protect themselves normally from predators. These effects have also been found in fish, salamanders, and mammals. It may have similar effects in humans. Fungal and protozoan infections have been known to cause deformities in frogs for decades.Davids and his committee apparently missed the point en .....
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JEM Movie Theatre

Victim: Put your bad experience to good use by speaking out

By News Team

Fri, Apr 21st, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

On September 17, 2005, at the age of fifteen, I became a victim. I was approached by a complete stranger, a 26 year old married man and father. I was all alone and had nowhere to go when this man took away my trust and safety. I was a victim of an at ..... 
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Ethanol may be the answer

By News Team

Fri, Mar 31st, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

The answer to America’s dependence on gasoline could come from the Midwest, not the Middle East.  Using ethanol as a transportation fuel can be traced back to Henry Ford and other transportation pioneers. Ford’s Model T, prod ..... 
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Shock and shame

By News Team

Fri, Mar 24th, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

The 1970’s Academy Award winning documentary Hearts and Minds, which detailed the course of the Vietnam War, from our initial contacts with the Ho Chi Minh resistance during World War II to our ultimate draw down of troops in 1973, documents how succ ..... 
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DOMA: The marriage of discrimination and religion

By News Team

Fri, Mar 10th, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

With the start of the 2006 Minnesota Legislative Session on March 1st, Republicans were aggressively pushing their tool to prevent gay marriage, the so called Defense of Marriage Amendment. Hundreds of thousands of DVDs distributed around the State f ..... 
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So long to number 34

By News Team

Fri, Mar 10th, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

I think it was May, 1992, but don’t quote me. We were visiting Minnesota from our home in Michigan, and my sister had given us Twins’ tickets. What I remember about the game was that Kirby Puckett hit a grand slam, and the announcer said it was Pucke ..... 
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A budget is a statement of ethics

By News Team

Fri, Mar 3rd, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

The Union of Concerned Scientists asked its’ members to write to the local papers concerning the Bush administrations perverse use of scientific research, the muzzling of scientists, and use of political litmus tests for hiring and appointment to rev ..... 
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Ben Franklin and the opinions of men

By News Team

Fri, Mar 3rd, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

Sometimes we print things people don’t like to read. I guess that’s the nature of a newspaper.

Sometimes people don’t like what I write; at other times, they don’t like what others write that we print.

And ..... 
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Legislative survey doesn’t inspire confidence

By News Team

Fri, Feb 24th, 2006
Posted in Commentary
Comments

In today’s mail I received a 2006 Legislative Survey from Representative Greg Davids who says he appreciates my opinion. Let’s hope he appreciates this.

1.Would you support an effort to use a portion of Minnesota’s budget surplu ..... 
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