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Nathan Roisen

St. Paul, MN
Commenter for
2 years 27 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/06/13 at 06:34 pm in response to Gun advocates vent over proposed restrictions on assault weapons

These two catchphrases (fuzzy and nonspecific, much like "job creator" or "jobs, jobs, jobs") seem to be popping up quite often in the gun violence debate.

I am legitimately curious to know, by what metrics, old policies have failed, and how new policies can be crafted that evolve based on those failures; as well as what real solutions can be crafted, as most of the gun supporters seem to deny that there is much of a problem in the first place.

I do think that there is pretty...

Posted on 12/21/12 at 01:48 pm in response to 7 best planning moves in Twin Cities history

I'm sure this article will attract far fewer comments than Tuesday's -- disasters can be more fun to talk about -- but I appreciate the selections, as well as the article. I grew up in the Southwest, and I can attest that for all the things the Twin Cities have done wrong in the past, I believe that more has been done right. The quality of life in Minneapolis and St Paul is very, very high compared to many of its peer cities.

Posted on 12/10/12 at 01:38 pm in response to With Adrian Peterson, who needs a passing game?

I don't think there is anyone in the league that is more electric than Adrian right now. What a great player to watch. The way the defense has been playing is extremely promising. If the team can make amends with Harvin, find a serviceable QB to replace Ponder (I'm hoping for Alex Smith, Matt Flynn if not him) and draft/sign a good wideout, they might just have a real contender next year.

Its becoming more clear every week that Ponder isn't the answer, unfortunately.

Posted on 11/30/12 at 11:34 am in response to Why is White Bear Lake shrinking? Angry residents blame DNR

6,000 more houses are going where a cornfield used to be, down in Woodbury. This will only make the problem with White Bear Lake worse, as they too draw off the Praire-du-Chen aquifer.

Personally, I think the solution has to be geared towards conservation. We're a water-rich area, which has made us careless in how we use our resources.

It would be interesting to see a graph showing water usage for summer vs. winter in the Twin Cities. I suspect that it is substantially...

Posted on 11/15/12 at 12:07 pm in response to Romney's sad explanation for his defeat

The Republicans have built their philosophy on ideological beliefs, rather than demonstrable facts. Their response to this election, including Romney's comments here, demonstrate the inflexibility of these beliefs when met with reality.

The part of me that has voted Democratic in the last few elections has to chuckle. Go ahead fellas, keep believing that government is always the problem, that lower taxes create more tax revenue, that you can cut taxes and reduce the deficit, that...

Posted on 11/14/12 at 04:39 pm in response to Dayton will push for a 'fair and simple' tax system during the 2013 session

To say that the problems in Greece and Spain are only the result of big government is only true in the most simplistic sense.

Greece's debt problems are a result of a wide variety of factors -

1) it's economy is unsophisticated and inflexible, and therefore unable to grow under its own power - growth from 2000-2008 was driven by artificially cheap money.
2) it's currency is not under its own control, therefore it is unable to devalue to make its products more competitive...

Posted on 10/09/12 at 10:59 am in response to Pew and Gallup say Obama's lead has vanished

It looks like Mitt's hard tack to the center is paying dividends, at least temporarily. There is still a whole month to go until the election. That is a long time to keep the right flank happy and the independent voters reassured simultaneously.

Things are a long way from over.

Posted on 10/04/12 at 10:19 am in response to Presidential post-debate: Focusing on Obama’s mis-demeanor

I don't think it is correct to say that Obama lost ONLY on body language.

Mitt came across as more confident and more concise in articulating his positions. Obama was not nearly as assertive as he should have been in challenging those positions. The fact that, early on, he let Romney get away with calling his 5T tax cut "not a tax cut" was absolutely insane to me. All night I was waiting for him to ask one very simple question and not let go of it: What deductions would you end,...

Posted on 09/18/12 at 12:31 pm in response to What’s wrong with what Romney said: from Thurston Howell to pandering

I think this is exactly right. Not only is he dead wrong, but he's dead wrong in a way that will completely alienate a vital constituency.

As another commenter put very well, I agree that this is not so much a gaffe as a symptom of the ideological and intellectual box the Republicans have built around themselves. I am glad this is coming to light before the election.

Posted on 09/13/12 at 01:57 pm in response to Taking tax breaks seriously

I'm sure a dozen people are furiously writing rebuttals to this as I type...

1) The bottom 50% do have "skin in the game" when you factor in state income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, property taxes, car registration, and so on, and so forth. The "skin in the game" hypothesis is a smoke screen, because...

2) They really do not have an appreciable level of income or wealth that could close much of the deficit. Jon Stewart did a tremendous job poking holes at this a few months...