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Clayton Haapala

Minnetonka, MN
Commenter for
3 years 33 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 07/10/12 at 09:57 pm in response to Waldo Canyon and wildfire patterns point to future climate consequences

How much of the residential destruction was contributed to by a) lack of zoning regulation and enforcement for those "border" areas, and b) lack of public infrastructure such as fire stations and water reservoirs, and c) local firemen and emergency workers?

That city is famously conservative, a bastion of miniscule property taxes and smaller government.

Perhaps that had nothing to do with the amount of damage to homes, but we'd like to know.

Posted on 06/20/12 at 08:16 pm in response to Ritchie refuses to defend Voter ID; GOP cries foul

... When scores of College Republicans are prevented from voting, and whine about it.
Yeah, they're rare, but they do exist.

Posted on 06/16/12 at 09:57 pm in response to Legislative commission opts for unprecedented approach to defend Photo ID amendment

There is no question of the legislatures authority, here.. The lawsuit is about what they produced, and not that a bill was passed by them. They have no authority to have their crappie not be contested. (Heh, the spell check is fishy but you can tell what I meant.)

Posted on 06/02/12 at 08:16 am in response to House panel passes Paulsen's med-tech bill as Democrats shape their arguments

Layoffs because if a tax not even in effect, yet? No, the real reasons the med-device companies are in hard times is because they bet that insurance would cover use of the devices in a prevention setting (before you've had a heart attack or arrhythmia) rather than after the occurrence. Coverage for prevention use is not common or growing.

Blaming the tax is just scapegoat tactics.

Paulsen remains an empty suit, and his failure to offset the loss of revenue is irresponsible,...

Posted on 05/18/12 at 01:06 pm in response to Romney ad #1: 'What I'd do on Day #1'

Mitt would change his mind.

Posted on 03/14/12 at 01:07 pm in response to Minnesota’s Voter ID constitutional amendment advancing

Ritchie's offer of an electronic poll book should be adopted. With it, we can put to rest the argument about what % of voter fraud is occurring and take appropriate action. Still won't catch confused felons, but neither will the amendment. If you can't measure it, you don't fully understand the problem, and you can't know the value and costs of your fix.

The cases of fraud that the pro-ID people are trumpeting ARE BEING PROSECUTED. This would appear to show that voter fraudsters...

Posted on 03/03/12 at 12:28 am in response to Sviggum offers vigorous defense at contentious regents meeting

... would recognize a conflict of interest and have the integrity to resolve it.

Is the conservative gene pool so shallow that one guy is asked to do all these things?

Posted on 01/23/12 at 10:21 pm in response to Pipelines like Keystone remain the best way to transport oil and gas

"It could be pipelined here, or you could have a line of tanker trucks."
Well, yes, it could be pipelined here, meaning to refineries in MN or ND or in Canada. That would avoid piping over the Oglalla, in favor of trucking refined products across the Northern USA. Other oils could then be diverted to end up in the export marketplace. The joys of a fungible commodity.

Posted on 01/23/12 at 10:41 pm in response to Stunning images of America's environments are returning to public view -- and acclaim

We forget how bad it was.

I am from Babbitt. Though the environmental lawsuit against Reserve Mining threatened our livelihood, I think we can call the Milepost 7 site a successful remediation. Jobs remain, in spite of questionable past management and cheap Brazilian iron. Regulation is necessary!

I've been through many of these photos. Too many of us simply do not remember.

Yet we have 'free trade' with nations that still allow industry to pee in their environment.

Posted on 01/20/12 at 10:21 pm in response to MPR report lays out gory details of GOP money woes

would have been more of a valid number if the report had listed the small-donor number for the Dems.