Should the State of Minnesota
subsidize a football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings? Two Views
Vikes! Yikes!
BY TONY BOUZA (former chief of police for Minneapolis and former gaming commissioner for the State of Minnesota)
 We need to do what we reasonably can to retain the Minnesota Vikings Before listing the whys, I need to utter what should be a requisite for such
essays—besides the joy of the psychic income of victory, I derive no benefit from the team.
Why is the Gopher Stadium called TCF Field? Branding! And good brands are worth millions. Major league status flows from the existence of big league teams.
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Phelps Falcons are 2009 AAU national champions
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN
 Phelps Park wasn’t doing so well a few years ago. It was dangerous, there was gang activity. It was not a place you’d want your kids hanging out. Pastor Jim Halbur, from the neighborhood Fountain of Life Church, and a few others in the community said, “Hey, we need to change this.”
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Some things in the Health Care Reform bill can really make you sick
BY ED FELIEN
I suppose we should be grateful that Congress has done something about health care reform. Even though there is no singlepayer plan in the bill or extension of Medicare to everybody, even though there’s no public option to keep the insurance companies honest, and even though the extended coverage doesn’t cover everybody—still, it’s great that they began to cover some people otherwise not covered, and it’s great that they’ll start some experimental programs that could lead to new savings and community-based care.
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A new Vikings stadium? L.A. shows us how
BY SENATOR JOHN MARTY (DFL candidate for governor)
The Vikings are off to a great start in what could be one of their best seasons ever. It is exciting to see Brett Favre lead a talented team with great potential.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, investors are building a new stadium, hoping to attract an NFL team. The lobbyists for Vikings owner, Zygi Wilf, are hoping to use L.A. to pressure Minnesota politicians into using taxpayer funds for a new Vikings stadium. They know most Minnesotans love the Vikings and are excited about the team’s prospects. And, by holding open the possibility that the team will leave for Los Angeles, they hope to pressure the state into providing a massive taxpayer subsidy for the team.
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Vivid memories of people, places and — birds
JOHN KARRIGAN
 One of my first notes for this month’s column, just before I made a detour to “paradise” or “heaven” as I’ve heard it described by various people, was that I saw dandelions growing and blooming near the northwest shore of Powderhorn Lake on Nov. 28. At that time there were still a few Mallards, Canada Geese, a Coot, sometimes large gatherings of Crows, and open water. That is, of course, all a seemingly distant memory now. Apparently my “pet” possum is also a distant memory. I don’t think it was full grown and I have not seen it for some time. I don’t know if it can survive the winter and an urban habitat, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.
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“We can defeat the Taliban.” McChrystal
BY ED FELIEN
Like Judas of old,
you lie and deceive
A world war can be won
you want me to believe.
Masters of War,
Bob Dylan
 General McChrystal told the Senate on Dec. 1, “We can defeat the Taliban. I think that is absolutely achievable.”
We have the best military in the world—the best trained, best equipped, best supported—and it’s still not going to be good enough to defeat the Taliban.
If there is one lesson that history taught loud and clear in the 20th Century it is that conventional forces cannot defeat a guerrilla insurgency
if it has the support of the local population. The people in Afghanistan have a long history of defeating invaders, from
Genghis Khan to the British Empire to the Russians.
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The Pauline Fjelde house has been demolished
 Pauline Fjelde stitched the first Minnesota flag in 1893. She lived and worked out of her home at 3009 Park Ave. from 1908 to 1918. The Central neighborhood group and preservationists had been working to try to save the building. The owner of the property wanted to demolish it for a parking lot for his storefront properties on Lake Street. . According to Sheila Regan of the TC Daily Planet: “James Schoffman, the current owner of 3009 Park, requested a wrecking permit to demolish the home in 2008 in order to create a parking lot, but last January the Heritage Preserva-tion
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Who wants to die for Karzai?
BY Jim Hightower
With some notable exceptions and a great deal of grumbling in its ranks, Congress seems to be going right along with Obama’s Afghan plan. Such as it is.
Washington will add some 30,000 U.S. troops to the war, practically none of which will be loved ones of White House staffers, lawmakers, Pentagon officials and the war contractors who are behind the push. This latest escalation means 100,000 of our troops will soon be on the line there, facing trauma, maimings and death. America’s money goes with them—the cost of maintaining each soldier in this faraway land is roughly a million dollars a year.
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Love in the middle of winter
BY BARNABY DEVITI
There are two celebrations in the middle of winter thai warm our hearts. Winter begins December 21 and ends with the first day of spring on March 21 — 90 days, give or lake a Leap Year. That would make the middle of" winter In be February 4. February 2 is Groundhog Day and February 14 is Valentine's Day. What a curious coincidence, and what could these two dates have in common?
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