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Jon Erik Kingstad

Afton, MN
Commenter for
2 years 49 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 04/04/13 at 08:38 am in response to Honeybee collapse worsens; one Minnesotan's losses run to 65%

disappeared from the news for a while. I'd read somethings somewhere that seemed to suggest that some authority (the EPA?) was on top of this, had figured out the problem and were addressing it. Now it seems not. It's hard not to feel alarmist about this problem, as well as the fact that the authorities seem to be unconcerned about a problem that has extremely dire consequences to put it mildly and as non-alarmistly as possible. Thanks for bringing this up again, Ron.

Posted on 03/29/13 at 03:42 pm in response to Isaiah, a coalition of congregations, reminds us foreclosure crisis is not over

But what also should be added and the public demanding is the repeal of the laws exempting home loans from usury laws. For that matter, repealing all of the federal and state legislation repealing usury laws. The usury laws are still on the books but so riddled with holes, going back to the Reagan (and Carter) era financial deregulation that they have no application to consumers who need their protection. The charging of any interest at all was illegal in Christian nations until the late...

Posted on 03/15/13 at 08:49 pm in response to Improv is a challenging artistic form, and performers ought to be paid

Do you mean to say that nobody asks the audience for something for their work? I wonder what Amanda Palmer's answer would be?

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/03/the-art-of-asking.html

Posted on 03/15/13 at 09:05 am in response to Neocons and the Iraq War: Their view then and now 10 years later

It is useful on the other hand to perpetually bring back the neocons in order to bludgeon them with their error. The public should never be allowed to forget this episode when this bunch of hacks "conned" them into a catastrophic war that pretty much destroyed any moral capital this country had in the world. I would expect any intellectually honest person would admit that "neoconservatism" has been totally discredited by the disastrous results it produced. The unwillingness of its adherents...

Posted on 03/08/13 at 04:11 pm in response to Could any concentration of wealth at the top be too much?

From what I have read and heard over the years that should read "the right never responds on point." That's because the right has no answer to the concentration/maldistribution of wealth. It is I believe an article of faith among the right that concentration/maldistribution of wealth is not a problem but part of the natural order of things. I think this is the reason why in the years leading up to 2008 while the right was in control of all three branches of the national government the right...

Posted on 03/07/13 at 09:38 pm in response to Attorney General acknowledges that some banks may be 'too big to jail'

Holder is expressing the policy position of the top guy. The guy known among right wing circles as the Kenyan Muslim Socialist.

There is a precedent with dealing with corporate empires "to big to fail". That is the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. "PUHCA" as it became known as, was another leg in the multilegged stool of regulating banking and finance in the 1930's. When the SEC finally got staff up, as it did by 1940, it broke up the holding company monopolies into the "...

Posted on 03/01/13 at 05:50 pm in response to Alan Simpson's assessment of where these guys have put their nuts

"why do people keep treating Alan Simpson as a wise man?"

Posted on 03/02/13 at 12:49 pm in response to Minnesota (and other) writers wrestle with Catholicism in 'Not Less Than Everything'

and a worthwhile event I'd like to attend. I agree with Patricia Hampl's observation about the influence of Jewish writers. But I'm not convinced this has anything to do with religious faith. I don't think of Saul Bellow, Philip Roth or Norman Mailer, to name a few, as having any faith, or being religious or their writing as having any religious tone. Especially when you think of the quiet but obvious role faith plays in Graham Green's work. So it's not just Catholicism which is excluded...

Posted on 02/22/13 at 09:19 am in response to Climate change event celebrates 'traditional' Minnesota winter — before it’s too late

have been at the forefront of blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline and the continued development of the Alberta Tar Sands. McKibben has been arrested and jailed in these protests. This article points out that McKibben is not blind to the fact that the Tar Sands are not the only fossil fuel whose use threatens to destroy human life on this planet. But things like divestment and blocking pipelines are not a solution to our energy demands/needs. While alternative energy sources like solar and wind...

Posted on 02/11/13 at 08:29 pm in response to Obama should approve Keystone XL pipeline

then how can anybody argue?

The real kicker in this article though is that "politics shouldn't drive this policy." As if every environmental impact statement generated for these pipelines conspicuously excludes the direct and indirect effects of mining the tar sands. James Hansen has publicly stated that with tar sands mining, it's "game over" for climate change. I tend to side with Mr. Westgard who observed in comments a few months ago that Hansen's comments assumed all of the tar...