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In response to the killing of 16 villagers in Afghanistan by a U.S. soldier, vigils and protests were held in cities across the U.S. to call for an end to the war in Afghanistan. In Minneapolis 50 people came to a picket and banner in the West Bank neighborhood on Saturday, March 17. The event was organized under the call of End the War in Afghanistan NOW. Groups that sponsored the event included Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Madness.
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America’s police are out of control
BY TONY BOUZA
What can possibly justify so sweeping an assertion?
I will try.
I started in policing on 1/1/53 in the NYPD, rose, over 24 years, to command Bronx forces and then served three as #2 in the Transit Police. This was followed by nine years as chief in Minneapolis.
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What is that smell from City Hall?
BY ED FELIEN
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within, infects unseen … —Hamlet
March went out like a lion for Minnesota. Not the weather. But the angry claw of a report on the potential for corruption in Minnesota politics that tore holes in the cloak of our smug satisfaction with our reputation for respectability.
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We almost lost our water
BY ED FELIEN
There was an “unusual event” on March 6 at the Prairie Island nuclear plant that seems to have escaped the local media but caught the attention of newspapers in western Wisconsin, the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Chronicle in California and the Miami Herald in Florida.
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Bird activity is oracle of the planet’s future
BY JOHN KARRIGAN
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Unknown bug |
Well, I can’t complain about the lack of birds in the park anymore this year, but I can still complain about the lack of small birds. I imagine that will soon change. I did however see a small flying insect, about the size of a honey bee, in the park on March 6. Since then I have seen various flying and crawling insects, many unidentified; of course the flies, mosquitoes and ants are somewhat easy to identify.
I have seen some small birds. I still see a Song Sparrow on occasion, have seen a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, pairs of White-breasted Nuthatches, one Eastern Phoebe, Chickadees, Robins, one Flicker and, in the backyard, at least eight Juncos at one time.
There have probably been other small birds that I have missed. Of course, the weather has been so strange. Lots of birds, small or large, may be on unusual schedules or on their normal schedules that just seem unusual because of the strange weather.
At sunrise on March 6, about 20 Mallard Ducks and one Canada Goose were on the ice, and three groups of Canada Geese flew over the lake, ranging from two to 40 geese in number. By March 11, there were large groups of Mallards and Canada Geese with lots of people already feeding them even though the lake was still almost completely frozen. As far as I know, the first pair of Wood Ducks arrived on March 15, and many more Wood Ducks have now arrived.
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Minneapolis-St. Paul 2012 international Film Festival
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The Carrier (Zambia/USA) directed by Maggie Betts
This profoundly moving film documents emotions, suffering and insight, as members of a family in a remote village in sub-Saharan Africa deal with the AIDS crisis. Most astonishing is the frankness with which the adults in this horrifying situation reveal their most intimate thoughts and feelings. Images of what it means to be a father, and even more, what it means to be a mother are woven throughout the film. –Mary Ann Vincenta
Shows April 29 at 9:15 p.m. and May 1 at 5 p.m.
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Craft (Brazil) directed by Gustavo Pizzi
Craft (“Riscado”) tells the story of a talented young actress named Bianca (Karine Teles) in Brazil who is trying to get her big break. Between auditions, she works for a kind of singing telegram company, where she delivers messages in the character of Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page and Carmen Miranda.
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The big fat truth
BY RAINA GOLDSTEIN
BUNNAG
Almost every day I hear people talking about how they need to cut out fat from their diet so they can lose weight. People associate the word fat with gaining weight or looking unhealthy. In reality, dietary fat keeps us healthy in many ways and is an essential for a variety of body functions. I consulted with Sharon Lehrman, a registered dietitian in Minneapolis and owner of Nutrition, Health, and Wellness, to provide you with the real deal on fats.
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The hungry insurgent
BY CHARLEY UNDERWOOD
Frankly, Mayor R.T. Rybak and I could not disgree more about the economic future of Minneapolis. He apparently views a massive public subsidy of a billion-dollar football stadium as insignificant compared to the tsunami of wealth coming our way. What I see are rising taxes, underwater mortgages, increasing gas and oil prices, and continuing economic instability. I would certainly prioritize an investment in future food security over a 30-year subsidy for a New Jersey billionaire’s sports palace.
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Don’t miss the Mayday Parade with HOBT on May 6th
This year, the MayDay Parade & Festival, on Sunday, May 6, will follow a Transition Town theme: visioning and energizing our transition away from fossil fuel dependency toward a more sustainable community. This theme will be enacted in the Parade and the Tree of Life Ceremony. Free MayDay Workshops to build puppets and practice to become part of the Parade and Tree of Life Ceremony will be held on Saturdays, beginning this Saturday, April 7, from 9 to 11 a.m. and from 1 to 3 p.m. and also on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.
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Rybak wants to eliminate
citizen review of the police
BY ED FELIEN
I first became interested in city politics in 1971 when a young, unarmed man was shot to death by the police. His crime: possession of marijuana. A grand jury was investigating to see if excessive force was used by the officer. Some of us decided to stage a large march from his West Bank apartment downtown to City Hall and lay a wreath at the door of the grand jury room. It was solemn and majestic on a cold February afternoon. After we placed the wreath we decided to go downstairs and talk to Mayor Charlie Stenvig, an ex-cop and reactionary conservative, and ask him what he thought about the incident.
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Attack of the billionaires
 It was a total lockdown. As jet after jet swept in surreptitiously with top brass and political decision-makers on board, every entrance to the site of the super-secret Coachella Valley planning summit was secured and patrolled by armed guards and helicopters.
This was not a clandestine gathering of America’s allies in Afghanistan, but a pow-wow of some 300 über-rich corporate plutocrats and their political hirelings—all intent on obliterating President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign with an unprecedented deluge of viciously-negative attack ads. Hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers [Charles and David] at the posh Renaissance Esmeralda golf resort in California’s Palm Springs desert in early February, the confabulees were mobilizing and monetizing what Charles Koch called the “mother of all wars.” That would be their self-proclaimed war to enthrone their ilk over workers, consumers, the environment—and democracy itself.
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April
ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Rules on Yard Waste Collection
Starting in spring of 2012, yard waste must be bagged in compostable plastic bags, Kraft paper bags or reusable containers that are less than 33 gallons in size, with sturdy handles. Plastic yard waste bags are banned.
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April 2012 
