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James Warden

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
3 years 34 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 11/02/11 at 02:17 pm in response to Why President Andrew Johnson was impeached, and why we should care today

Here’s the point I can’t get behind: “The framers’ system has held up remarkably well for two and a half centuries, all things considered.”

This is a frequently made statement that I think merits further scrutiny.

We're really in our third iteration as a country.
-- We had the Articles of Confederation from 1777.
-- We had a supposed Constitutional Republic after 1789 — although we acted more as a confederation of semi-autonomous states in reality. There were...

Posted on 02/21/11 at 06:00 pm in response to It's a perfect time to reflect on George Washington's attitude toward permanent power

Good post overall, but I gotta take exception to this because it's a persistant, inaccurate myth that dates back to the Revolutionary War itself:

"His early leadership of the Army was unsuccessful and hampered by his unwillingness to use guerrilla-like tactics that would give the rebels their only chance against the better-trained British and mercenary forces."

In fact, the Americans' only chance came through conventional battles like Saratoga (which brought the French into the...

Posted on 10/27/10 at 09:25 am in response to Census research center opens on U of M campus

So do only researchers with the center get access to the "unpublished" information? It would seem to me that it is public information that should be available to all, not limited to two dozen researchers whose projects have been approved.

Why do we even need a Census research center in the first place? Put the information on www.data.gov and let everyone have access to it.

Posted on 10/15/10 at 12:45 pm in response to Met Council: More focus on growing in place

I'm not sure where this fits in, but it appears to clash with both Orfield's view and the Met Council's:

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/mn-court-of-appeals/1220378.html

That's a case where Lake Elmo sued the Met Council after the council ordered Lake Elmo to adjust a municipal growth plan that aimed for preserving a rural character, not...

Posted on 10/11/10 at 06:44 pm in response to Governor's JOBZ program had 'little impact' on counties' economic growth, U researchers say

The Faribault Daily News, where I work, did a deep look at the SAGE project that Hanson cites. The verdict isn’t as clear-cut as he suggests — although strong arguments can be made on both sides.

Here’s the two-part story:
http://www.faribault.com/news.php?viewStory=100717
...

Posted on 08/12/10 at 10:31 am in response to How a Pioneer Press reporter helped free Koua Fong Lee

There are two issues here: The lawyer's performance and the newspaper's.

Let's take the latter first because that's what the article is about. There may have been a presumption of innocence for Lee, but certainly not for Toyota. News coverage of the trial consistently ignored mounting evidence that the Toyota claims was overblown - to say the least.

Articles were questioning the Toyota complaints at least as early as July:

...

Posted on 06/28/10 at 02:39 pm in response to U.S. in Afghanistan: The McCain Doctrine and the Powell Doctrine

The concerns about endless war are legit. But it’s important to note that the Powell Doctrine has its own problems — namely that it’s a Cold War relic. Its underlying set of assumptions presume a balance of power situation like that during the 1980s. The biggest of these assumptions is that force is binary — all on or all off. As Madeleine Albright famously asked Powell: “What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it?” Iraq is as much a...

Posted on 06/15/10 at 07:53 am in response to Forum newspapers shift the comment cesspool

This reminds me of something I've always wondered about the MinnPost site: What's the thinking behind the show/hide comments function? As a user, it's a minor irritant to have to click a button instead of just scrolling down — especially when the comments here are of such high quality. But I can also see how it would help boost page views or distance those comments from the actual story. Is this for business reasons or editorial reasons?

Posted on 05/10/10 at 05:05 pm in response to Marketing Target Field: Great product makes it easy

I see what you're saying about Target Field, but why then are we seeing widespread advertising at bus stations and on billboards? I even saw a Target Field ad at a light rail station the other day. With such an onslaught of media attention, it would seem such a campaign would be better reserved for when attention starts to slacken.

Posted on 04/14/10 at 04:10 pm in response to A plea for civility or playing politics with tragedy?

Swanson said: "It was not political or partisan in the sense of advocating governmental change through the political process."

An act is not political based on its means. An act is political based on its end. Violence aimed at achieving a political goal is thus a political act. That holds for nations engaged in wars with one another, and that holds for non-state groups pursuing political aims - which both the Oklahoma City bombers and the Sadrist fighters were doing.

Whether...