Have we said lately how much we appreciate Congresswoman Michele Bachmann? What with all the Denny Hecker-Tom Petters-Norm Coleman news of late, it's important to note her consistent contributions to the news cycle. The Strib's Bob Von Sternberg reports that Bachmann, representing one of the most bizarrely gerrymandered districts in the country, is refusing to fill out her 2010 U.S. Census form, citing, uh, "an invasion of her family's privacy." Bachmann's comments came in a ... wait for it ... interview with FoxNews, who really should be sending her a weekly check.

Von Sternberg writes, "Questions about Americans' household incomes and commuting times are intrusive, said the Sixth District congresswoman. 'These are very intricate questions that are being asked of the American people, and I think it's time as a lawmaker that we come together and start looking out for the American individual and their privacy rights, as well.' " She also says she fears ACORN will infiltrate the census process. We're NOT making that up.

MPR's Tom Scheck notes a slight revision in Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unallotment plan. Reports Scheck, "The changes increase the level of cuts to some health and human services programs but restore funding for a private mental health facility in Minneapolis and the White Earth Band of the Ojibwe. [Commissioner Tom] Hanson said the governor made the changes after listening to stakeholders and lawmakers."

Scheck's colleague, Phil Picardi, finds new House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers saying some unallotment cuts might be avoided if ... the economy "ticks up." He quotes Zellers saying, "Some of the unallotment things that we've discussed or we've heard about are in the second year. So, those things, once the economy comes back, can be maybe be put off ... can maybe be changed ... can be readjusted." Just wondering here, but how many "ticks" would it take to recover $15 trillion?

Jon Bream hunts down a handful of Twin Cities musicians with memories of Michael Jackson. Drummer Michael Bland is quoted saying, "I figured he'd be here till he was 80. His death is more significant than John Lennon's. He was a world icon." Uh ... really? The Lennon part, I mean.

At the PiPress, Ross Raihala tracks down MnSpeak's Max Sparber, who remembers Jackson coming in to what sounds like Tower Records on the Sunset Strip. ""He would come in wearing a really terrible costume," Sparber said. "A baseball cap, buck teeth and fake sideburns. People in the store would say, 'Oh, my God, that's Michael Jackson — in costume!' He would just empty the store and leave with as many as 100 videotapes at a time." Raihala also quotes a local blogger asserting that "he was in the same league of artistry as the Beatles. "If you took LeBron James and made him even better and even more loved, you'd get Michael Jordan. And if you made Michael Jordan musical and even better and more loved, you'd get Michael Jackson." Why does this kind of adulation remind me of Bill Swerski's SuperFans?

The City Pages staff puts together a Michael Jackson Top 10 list. They do NOT compare him to Christ Almighty, Plato, Albert Einstein or Beethoven but they do declare, "#1. He invented dancing." Who knew?

Minnesota's news-giving trinity of Hecker, Petters and Coleman can't match the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Jackson for pop impact, but at least none of our guys are dead. Coleman in fact scored a modest victory, as Eric Roper reports in the Strib, by persuading the FEC to let him use campaign dough to cover expenses related to that Nasser Kazeminy business in Texas and its spillover effect with the Senate Ethics Committee. With national Republicans kicking nearly $1 million Coleman's way in May alone to help out with the recount trial, Roper writes, "Commissioners emphasized that their decision does not address whether Coleman's recount funds can be used for expenses related to the lawsuits."

In the wake of the planned $40 million refurbishment of Orchestra Hall, Macalester College says it will be dropping $70 million on a glossy new expansion of its fine arts center. So says Brian Johnson in Finance and Commerce.

Even if you've never graduated from Basketball 101, you probably know that there are usually only two guards playing for each team at a given time, right? And that only one of them runs the plays? So obviously you're thinking the Timberwolves must know a lot more than you or guys like the Strib's Jerry Zgoda, when they draft three point guards with their first three picks in last night's draft. OK, one of them they traded to Denver, and the Spanish kid, Rubio, probably will sell a few tickets, unless he checks the January weather forecast and refuses to leave the Costa del Sol. But really, what's up with that? Zgoda explains, "The Wolves' decision to select consecutive point guards might make sense in this sense: There's a chance Rubio won't play in the NBA next season, not if he cannot reach a compromise with his Spanish pro team on a buyout clause in his contract that now calls for him to pay $6.6 million out of his pocket to get out of it."

In an interview with ESPN, the 18-year-old Rubio says he is willing to play for free. Even when he was in Little League, Alex Rodriguez never said that.