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Ray Schoch

Ray Schoch_2's picture
Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
2 years 9 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 05/15/13 at 01:27 pm in response to Obama’s three scandals: a closer look

Given that the organizations being scrutinized by the IRS were, and are, engaged in influencing voters, it is, in fact, sane for the IRS to at least give their applications for nonprofit status more than a casual look. That those organizations can make that application is one of the side effects of the loathsome "Citizens United" ruling by the SCOTUS. The 501(c)(4) entities in question, for example, have bent over backwards to block attempts to require them to disclose their donors. To use a...

Posted on 05/13/13 at 09:27 pm in response to Vikings unveil stadium design: What do you think?

Not to sound overly cynical about this, but the architects could present us with a very, very large Quonset Hut and boosters of this project would insist that it was forward-looking and gorgeous and daring and organic and all those other terms the architecturally-literate like to use. Lots of natural light? Great. Angular, "modern" structure? Meh. Luxury suites? Gag me. Elected officials deciding that the public should pay a significant portion of the cost of erecting this monument to garish...

Posted on 05/11/13 at 07:50 am in response to Should the U.S. get militarily involved in Syria?

n the headline is easy:

No.

What compelling interest of the United States is currently threatened by the bloodshed in Syria? There may well be multiple genuine humanitarian arguments for American involvement, but “involvement,” at least in the ordinary English language usage of the term, does not automatically imply military intervention. I don’t claim any particular expertise regarding Syria, but what I’ve read suggests that we’re already significantly involved, diplomatically...

Posted on 05/11/13 at 07:58 am in response to Groups claim students may lose out to corporate loopholes

“…The loopholes are currently on the table, but lawmakers would use the new money to lower the overall corporate tax rate, which, counter to popular thought, is already one of the lowest in the nation.

If the revenue were instead redirected to education, the report points out, K-12 funding could be increased by $348 per student each year of the biennium, restoring about 16 percent of the buying power schools had in 1991.”

Tsk, tsk. Much too easy. Much too straightforward. Much...

Posted on 05/10/13 at 09:22 am in response to What the author of ‘Nickel and Dimed’ thinks about Minnesota’s minimum wage

Thanks for this, Cynthia. Ehrenreich remains among the relative few clear-eyed observers of this culture's economic machinery at work.

Posted on 05/09/13 at 03:18 pm in response to E-pulltabs & bingo to barnstorm Minnesota

“…Still, residents of the area want something more permanent than sandbags to control flooding.”

Um… not to belabor the obvious, but they could move out of the floodplain. Downstream from Minnesota on the Mississippi, whole cities have relocated for just that purpose, and presumably, not every building in the Fargo/Moorehead area would have to be relocated.

Posted on 05/09/13 at 07:10 am in response to Union files grievance over Minnesota State Mankato coach's firing

It depends upon which hospital you're in, and whether you have insurance or not.

Posted on 05/08/13 at 03:21 pm in response to Delaware legalizes same-sex marriage

… to Mr. DeFor. I'm not at all sure where the "tipping point" might have been, but the whole conversation has shifted dramatically, and in very short order.

Posted on 05/09/13 at 09:04 am in response to What makes people attached to a city?

Dave Frenkel seems closer to the truth than Dave Broden.

Lots of people grow up, live and die without ever leaving the area they were born in. Others travel the globe, living in a variety of circumstances, climates and social environments, and in part at least, depending upon where they happen to be in life. I've lived in three metro areas in three different states, and spent substantial amounts of time in other parts of the U.S. as well. None of them has been perfect, either socially...

Posted on 05/07/13 at 03:55 pm in response to Vikes stadium unveiling: Expect ‘modernistic’ design with ‘outdoor feel’

Hiram Foster makes an excellent point.

I wouldn't cross the street to see the Vikings play for free, much less schlep downtown to a Vegas-like monument to excess to pay ridiculous prices to watch millionaires bump into each other for money. That, however, may well be irrelevant, and Foster is on to something, I think.

Most people in Minnesota, not to mention the rest of the nation, will never see the inside of this boondoggle in person. Even avid Vikings fans are more likely to...