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Lance Groth

Apple Valley, MN
Commenter for
4 years 15 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 08/18/11 at 06:36 pm in response to I witnessed a dark side of Michele Bachmann's character

Regarding Beryl's (#37) comment, Frank Herbert once summed up the point succinctly when he wrote: “When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows.”

Along the same lines, Jim Kunstler has repeatedly warned against the rise of what he calls "corn-pone Nazis".

Any time events conspire to mix economic/financial crisis, high unemployment, a generalized feeling of anxiety and hopelessness, simplistic sloganeering, jingoism, religious fervor and a charismatic...

Posted on 08/16/11 at 12:29 pm in response to Rising from meter-reader to CEO, Xcel's Dick Kelly has sound perspective on environment

Too bad Mr. Kelly is retiring. We need more industry leaders like him.

I share his sentiment when he said: "I don't know how they can deny the science. I really don't." The answer is they can't from the basis of science, but they can and do from the perspective of politics; sacrificing the future of their offspring for short-term gain. It is an immoral position.

I do like the idea of an industry insider with a healthy respect for science as energy secretary. One thing that...

Posted on 08/16/11 at 04:30 pm in response to Rising from meter-reader to CEO, Xcel's Dick Kelly has sound perspective on environment

Mr. Granneman may profit from reading this short article, "Conservative's Conversion on Climate Change":

http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20110816/OPINION/108160302

I make particular note of this passage:

"...addressing climate change today is an ethical and moral imperative. Failing to do so is a repudiation of our...

Posted on 08/12/11 at 12:35 pm in response to Did 'tough guy' tactics against Bachmann hurt Pawlenty more than they helped him?

I love Lora's (#1) line:

"a little man trying to bull through with borrowed bravado"

Magnificent phrasing, and it sums up Pawlenty perfectly. We've known it in Minnesota for a long time; now a larger audience is figuring it out too.

Posted on 08/10/11 at 12:44 pm in response to With the Dakota language on life support, a resurgence among native youth

I'm so pleased that the Dakota Wicohan effort is underway. The extinction of a language and culture is a terrible thing, no less terrible than the extinction of a species. The cultural cleansing that took place in earlier times in the white run schools was shameful.

Posted on 08/05/11 at 12:24 pm in response to Strib notes T-Paw's 180 on climate change

I got a chuckle out of this bit:

"...now it seems there's some consistency in his views."

Consistency in Pawlenty's views? Well, yeah, I guess, if consistently holding your finger up to the wind and tacking hard whichever direction it seems to be blowing counts.

This man doesn't firmly believe anything, except that he wants to be president.

By the way, has anyone thanked Pawlenty for Moody's downgrade of Minnesota? It's for his budget strategy (sadly continued...

Posted on 08/08/11 at 11:00 am in response to Gov. Dayton's sons open Minneapolis bar/restaurant

I recall reading somewhere that Dayton once commented that his decision to send his Senate staff home during the elevated threat level that occurred during a recess stemmed from an incident in which there was some kind of threat at a Dayton's store or corporate office. He said his takeaway from that experience was that employees need to be protected during any such incident. From which story I inferred that he was working there. I don't really know his bio prior to being state auditor or...

Posted on 08/04/11 at 04:52 pm in response to NJ Gov. Chris Christie defends Superior Court Judge appointee Sohail Mohammed

Good for Gov. Christie! It's great to see a repub with (previously) unquestioned conservative cred stand up to the paranoid anti-muslim crowd.

I'm sure Michele Bachmann has an entirely different view.

Does this make Christie a RINO? I admit to some schadenfreude when repubs eat their own.

Posted on 08/02/11 at 01:33 pm in response to Rush Limbaugh, global warming and our weather

Re this comment in #1: "how small and insignificant mankind is to the globe"

This is an example of how the denialists blow smoke. The correct formulation would be, "how small and insignificant a man is ..." Sure, the world looks big from the perspective of an individual. So what? That is quite a different thing than the impact of 7 billion humans and their combined activity in consuming space/habitat, industrial activity and related pollution, energy consumption, agriculture and...

Posted on 08/02/11 at 03:32 pm in response to Rush Limbaugh, global warming and our weather

@Marcia - You're right, of course. I was thinking of Franken's book, I guess, but Limbaugh isn't really an idiot. He's a liar who has sold his soul.