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Connie Sullivan

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
1 year 30 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 05/20/13 at 12:25 pm in response to It's time for more climate research

This climate-change denial is so sad. Obviously, the writer is hiding in a few select numerical calculations and avoiding the evidence--not speculation--that's all around: higher night-time lows than ever before, ice-cap melts and glacier melts of frightening dimensions, average world temperatures higher than ever, climate change that the animals and birds, and the trees, are indicating for us by migration patterns, violent weather phenomena in patterns never seen before but that were...

Posted on 05/18/13 at 10:36 am in response to Ranked-choice voting: Minneapolis data show people use it with sophistication

Aside from the fact that Larry Jacobs is a scholar of American politics and has done his research on the subject, this article tries to assert a huge portion of sophisticated IRV voters from one of Minneapolis's most dismal voter-turnout local elections in decades.

There simply weren't many voters in 2009, so it stands to reason that those who actually came out to vote in mostly-non-competitive races (like Robin's boss, Second Ward Council member Cam Gordon, had, and the mayoral race...

Posted on 05/16/13 at 05:32 pm in response to Rural vs. urban battle fought in state Senate over Legacy parks funding

The part of the Minnesota electorate that is paying attention to the Legacy fund money actually funding metro area parks and wildlife areas (not, as the article implies, just to Minneapolis and St. Paul) this time around is the part that understood absolutely clearly what would be funded by that Legacy fund amendment. No wool was pulled over eyes that were reading and ears listening carefully. The problem, as always with voting, is people who don't pay attention.

The arts were...

Posted on 05/14/13 at 01:28 pm in response to Minnesota Vikings stadium needs better urban design

Hey! it's a football stadium.

It looks like something other than a football stadium, in many respects, and certainly doesn't look like the Dome. All complaints here about the street are irrelevant; the architects were asked to design a football stadium, which is large and is unused--vacant and lonely--most of the time. They did pretty well.

You could try to make some suggestions about the private developments to go up around the new stadium. Because this public/private entity...

Posted on 05/10/13 at 11:41 am in response to What the author of ‘Nickel and Dimed’ thinks about Minnesota’s minimum wage

All workers should get at least the state's minimum wage.

Those lobbying for a tip credit exemption to that principle are the ones who should be ashamed.

Posted on 05/10/13 at 11:29 am in response to $15 to park on street for Vikings game? Minneapolis 'smart' meters raise rates for big events

Problems solved, if more people take the bus or light rail to games. And that is consistent with long-range planning for Minneapolis, where transit, bikes, and walking are the focus, over cars.

This a good move by the city.

Posted on 05/08/13 at 01:42 pm in response to Senate income tax increase doesn’t hit the middle class

it's interesting that this author thought it best not to include single taxpayer rates in his presentation, because in the Senate proposal singles would start paying 9.4% tax on income over $79,500 or so--pretty far from six figures, and nothing like the millions per annum earned by the 1% or the hundreds of thousands earned by the 2%.

Can we define the middle class by median income? The median income in Minnesota and the U. S. is not terribly much above the poverty level, and the...

Posted on 05/07/13 at 01:58 pm in response to Rally by gun-control advocates didn’t change Thissen’s mind

Gleason seems to be counterposing any gun control measure passing the House this session and approving gay marriage. "Take the long view," he says, and go for gay marriage, waiting your turn for even the mildest measure of control of gun violence in Minnesota.

I find that appalling. For one thing, there is much more support (between 80 and 90%, minimum) for universal background checks for those buying guns than there currently is for gay marriage. For another--and here I'll be...

Posted on 05/07/13 at 02:04 pm in response to How a British painting helped thwart universal health care in U.S.

Interestingly, though, I recently read a short notice in the NYTimes that Spain, which has had universal public health care since the Socialists came in in the early 1980s, is now in the process of privatizing health care.

Does anyone have more detail on why that's happening? Spain's got almost 30% unemployment, increasing starvation and homelessness in the post-"boom" recession that won't end, and they're simultaneously getting rid of accessible health care?

Posted on 05/04/13 at 01:42 pm in response to Gun-control advocates push Thissen for vote on 'doomed' background-check bill

I'd be delighted to do the math: on which legislators are too cowardly to vote for even the minimal background-check beginnings of control of gun violence. So far, starting with Rep. Thissen, they are all cowards in this regard because they are wiping their brows in relief that they don't have to vote at all. Whew!

I want to know how each House member votes on the Paymar bill, and then we'll see who is cowed by the NRA and some loud gun owners in their districts (gun owners who are...