Skip to Content

Connie Sullivan

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
1 year 30 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/22/13 at 02:36 pm in response to People carrying assault weapons pose a clear and present danger to others

I like the clarity of this article's comparisons of the absolute First Amendment freedom of speech and the Second Amendment right for members of a citizen militia to bear arms. Neither amendment gives us a right that is absolute; each right is contingent on our not injuring or threatening to injure others as we use it.

I'm surprised we haven't seen more people making this important argument. It hits at the core of the weakness of gun advocates' claims to absolute untouchability by any...

Posted on 02/21/13 at 04:58 pm in response to Are organic foods more nutritious? Tomato study adds to the debate

Yes, it is about nutrition. If organic fruits and vegetables routinely provide more of the good stuff, as well as less or none of the bad stuff, what's not to like?

Only people who think in "either-or" terms would try to negate or minimize the value of this sort of research conclusion for organic farming and eating.

Posted on 02/19/13 at 04:16 pm in response to Let’s acknowledge legitimate motivations on both sides of the gun issue

I agree, that a weakness in your case is a questionable interpretation of the intention of the Second Amendment in the 18th century and its applicability to a strongly urbanized United States today.

But I'm hard-pressed to see where you get by saying that everyone, on both sides of our gun violence crisis, is responding to primal urges. Everybody wants to stay alive. Good. But, How we go forward? How do we solve any problems of gun violence in our society?

Posted on 02/18/13 at 06:16 pm in response to Regulating cremations' mercury emissions proves as hard as pulling teeth

This article made me laugh so hard that I think it added about five years to my life.

Posted on 02/18/13 at 07:04 pm in response to TakeAction’s Liz Doyle Q-A: Health exchange must be consumer-friendly and help small businesses

This article is a clear and valuable contribution to the discussion, particularly of the value to small businesses of the smart-purchaser provision on the exchange. Big companies routinely get better deals on healthcare rates than small businesses (and individuals) do, and small businesses are the ones we should believe. it's the size of the pool, and one of the real beauties of Obamacare (the Prez likes the term and has appropriated it) is that our exchanges will provide a big pool for...

Posted on 02/18/13 at 07:22 pm in response to Goin’ mobile: The cloud-based lifestyle is moving fast

It's a shame, given all this hype, that cloud-computing has such an obscenely large carbon footprint (anyone consider the electricity it takes to form and grow those "clouds"?).

Posted on 02/18/13 at 07:20 pm in response to Comcast 'drip pricing': higher rates — again

I hope that MNDOT intends to hold more meetings on their plans for these highway expansions than the two this week, neither well-announced and neither in neighborhoods that would be affected in the inner city: Beltrami, Northeast Park, Southeast Como, and Marcy-Holmes in Minneapolis, to name those impacted by a possible addition of a ramp to northbound I35W from East Hennepin Ave. (they don't know Minneapolis well enough to have appended the necessary "East" to Hennepin Ave. in their plans...

Posted on 02/14/13 at 03:13 pm in response to Judge tosses defamation counts in Brodkorb suit

In all the hoopla we'll be subjected to by business people claiming the sky will fall if we raise the state's minimum wage, we have to remember that only three or four other U.S. states have as low a minimum wage as we do: try working a 40-hour week, if you can get it, on Minnesota's $6.15 an hour -- that's $12,792 a year before Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes are taken out of the paychecks). Everyone who earns Minnesota's minimum wage lives in poverty, unless they're the...

Posted on 02/13/13 at 03:45 pm in response to Chamber’s Kate Johansen Q-A: Business supports health exchange … but plan needs ‘ton’ of work

Talk about someone being pulled kicking and screaming into the reality of Obamacare!

This Chamber of Commerce person has been involved in the planning of the health insurance exchange for two years, on a task force that Gov. Dayton insisted on going forward with. But she doesn't like the truly Minnesota part of the planning: the aggressive purchaser (i.e., the public) that will determine whether her preference--which is a bare-bones system of health insurance, what she calls "minimal...

Posted on 02/08/13 at 01:24 pm in response to 3 reasons why Dayton’s property tax plan is wrong-headed

This is an excellent article, providing strong reasons for the Governor and the legislature to just dump the unnecessary and unfair $500 property tax rebate or refund. it is incredibly regressive. And actually, property taxes in most parts of the state, reflecting the effects of the housing bust in 2008-2009, are down because property valuations are finally down.

When I first read that Dayton had proposed a universal $500, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Further, the governor seems...