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John Roach

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
4 years 3 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 07/23/09 at 01:21 pm in response to One Star Tribune reporter's hatred of comments

A lot of the problems with the Strib commenters would be solved if they required real names AND had a reasonable and consistently enforced moderation policy.

The Strib removes comments on a regular basis, but mostly only in reaction to complaints from other commenters using the "Flag" button. Sometimes edgy-but-germane comments are "disappeared", while other comments that are gross and off topic remain. They do not seem to be willing to adequately staff--or train their web editors--...

Posted on 07/16/09 at 11:59 am in response to Bemidji airport, state's fourth busiest, wants some respect

I did mean to add that yes, BJI is number 4 in "revenue passenger emplanements" in Minnesota. However, this statistic by itself does not accurately reflect how many people use a particular airport, nor does it reflect how "busy" that airport is.

Posted on 07/16/09 at 11:14 am in response to Bemidji airport, state's fourth busiest, wants some respect

Hmmmm. According to the FAA, in 2008 the busiest airports in Minnesota were:

1. Minneapolis/St. Paul
2. Flying Cloud
3. St. Paul Downtown
4. Anoka County
5. Duluth
6. Rochester
7. Crystal
8. St. Cloud

Bemidji is a non-tower field, so it doesn't show up in the FAA database; however, it reports an average of 35 operations per day which works out to 12275 per year. This is considerably below #8 St. Cloud, which reported 20209 operations in...

Posted on 07/10/09 at 11:33 am in response to A week of twists and turns in health-reform debate

3 out of every 4 Americans want a Public Option in this bill. In the name of "bipartisanship", the usual Washington insiders will produce something that doesn't work and will be completely ineffective in controlling the behavior of the for-profit insurance industry.

Not a single Republican will vote for it anyway and they will then complain that it was because the bill wasn't "bipartisan" enough.

It would sure be nice if the Democrats had control of the House or Senate. Then...

Posted on 07/11/09 at 11:06 am in response to Ideas sought for new library in Uptown Minneapolis

The old library is completely intact, across the street and has been vacant for quite some time. It even has direct access to a very large parking lot directly behind it.

With a little expansion and some modernization, this beautiful building should be able to do the job it was designed for, for much less than a whole new library.

Posted on 07/08/09 at 05:11 pm in response to Franken co-sponsors bill making it easier to unionize

'Nuff said? Heh.

I don't think that's your call, Mr. Swift.

As I promised, even though you failed to provide even a single example of a real union thug intimidating a poor worker (although I enjoyed your hypothetical scenario-it was really scary!), here is something that is a little more reality-based:

"A new study by a Cornell University professor of 1,004 union organizing drives has found that employers threatened to close plants in 57 percent of the campaigns and...

Posted on 07/08/09 at 01:38 pm in response to Franken co-sponsors bill making it easier to unionize

Debating real flaws about EFCA would be entertaining, but debunking already discredited anti-union talking points is tedious, so I'll be as brief as possible:

1. To organize a Union today, cards still have to be signed and counted. Then the employer demands a "secret ballot". THEN the intimidation starts. I guarantee I can provide many, many documented examples of employer intimidation for any example of Union intimidation that someone might come up with.

2. Under EFCA, nothing...

Posted on 07/08/09 at 12:53 pm in response to Confusing weather with climate

I really like these articles, Paul. It's frustrating to see a good science topic like climate change being avoided by so many because of the political heat it generates.

Posted on 07/08/09 at 01:11 pm in response to State GOP greets Franken on Day One with call to stop 'big spenders'

Mr. Sutton seems confused about whether he is supposed to be congratulating Senator Franken or sending a coded message to his base. In one single sentence he implies that Franken's election and confirmation by nearly every judge in the state is somehow illegitimate, and then implies that the MN Repubs will forget about that if he votes the way they tell him to.

In the next sentence he demands that Franken prove he's not a socialist, or a communist, or one of those other, lockstepping-...

Posted on 06/25/09 at 11:39 am in response to The next great threat takes over the world

The idea that Glenn Beck and Daniel Pipes might have some influence with 31 US Senators is very depressing.