We can only hope

The Star Tribune thinks the unthinkable:

The decision to delay the Twin Cities’ biggest light-rail project drew protests and warnings Wednesday from two policymakers who have been closely involved in planning the line.

They objected to postponing a crucial vote on whether to build two tunnels as part of the Southwest Corridor line that will connect Minneapolis with Eden Prairie and southwestern suburbs. The delay of as much as three months is intended to give planners time to build support for the tunnels in Minneapolis, where some officials and residents fear disruption to a neighborhood and a recreation area.

“This is going to be a huge setback,” said Steve Elkins, a member of the Metropolitan Council, the agency overseeing the project.

“A delay means that the project could be at risk,” said Council Member Jennifer Munt. “Does this derail the project?”

Elkins and Munt fear the delay could cost the $1.55 billion project its best chance to win needed federal funding.

A few thoughts:

• "Federal funding" means having someone from Fort Wayne, or Topeka, or Bend, or Albuquerque, fund this boondoggle. The feds can spend the money, but they don't really have it. We took a wrong turn at Albuquerque a long time ago.
• The whole fight is about NIMBYism. Hooray for NIMBYism in this case.

Of course, the real fear is buried further in the article. Allow Met Council member Jennifer Munt to explain:

After the meeting, Munt labeled opposition from some Minneapolis City Council members “inflammatory campaign rhetoric” and predicted it would die down after the Nov. 5 election for mayor and council.

“We did have a path forward and it was a sweet spot after the election and before year’s end, because we’re talking with city councilors who understand the issue,” she said. “I believe we had a shot.”

But the delay in approving a plan could push the process for seeking municipal consent into 2014, putting it in front of new city councils and potentially leading to further delays.

See, you can't let voters have the chance to put potentially less pliable politicians in office. Of course, Munt doesn't have to face any voters, since the Met Council is unelected.

Adverb contest

My son, a/k/a the Benster, is currently working on an Eagle Scout project up at a church in Isanti. We've been up there a fair amount lately working on the project and will be doing so for the next few weeks.

As it happens, Isanti is located in a place that bears deep scrutiny -- that is, the 6th Congressional District. Rachel Stassen-Berger, suitably aghast, notes why in her most recent Star Tribune dispatch:

The quest to take U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s seat when she retires is deeply unsettled in the starkly Republican suburban and outstate Sixth Congressional District.

Emphasis mine. Not to put too fine a point on it, I wonder what that means. "Starkly" is an adverbial form of the word stark, an adjective, which has the following definitions:

stark  [stahrk]  adjective, stark·er, stark·est, adverb
adjective
1. sheer, utter, downright, or complete: stark madness.
2. harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view, place, etc.: a stark landscape.
3. extremely simple or severe: a stark interior.
4. bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorized: the stark reality of the schedule's deadline.
5. stiff or rigid in substance, muscles, etc.

In the time we've spent in the area, we haven't found it to be particularly harsh, grim, or desolate, although it is a little windy this time of year. In fact, the countryside near Isanti is actually pretty lush. I don't suspect the first meaning is what Stassen-Berger was after, either, since Bachmann almost lost her last bid for Congress in the district, which would have been impossible if the area were completely, or even sheerly, Republican. From what I can tell, "extremely simple or severe" isn't right, either, although I don't doubt that Stassen-Berger finds certain 6th District Republicans to be simple and severe in their unreasonable demands to participate in the political process. There's probably some glamor in the District, but we've been too busy with the project to seek it out, although we might check out the "Beef-O-Brady's" in St. Francis some time and see if that fits the bill. I'd be willing to support the final definition, since I've personally been feeling plenty stiff in the muscles after helping to dig out about two 35-foot long, two-foot wide, two-foot deep trenches (Benster's project is building dugout enclosures for a church softball field).

So, what I'm suggesting is that Stassen-Berger might have chosen the wrong adverb to describe the area. I live in the 4th Congressional District, which has not sent a Republican to Congress since the Truman administration, but I wouldn't describe it as "starkly" DFL. So, what I'd like to suggest is that we do a little editorial crowd-sourcing and help the intrepid reporter out by giving her a new adverb to describe the 6th. Choose one of the following, or feel free to add your own in the comments section.

What adverb should Rachel Stassen-Berger have used to describe the "starkly Republican" 6th District?
	Refreshingly Republican
	Inexplicably Republican
	Frustratingly Republican
	Unacceptably Republican
	Knuckle-draggingly Republican
	Podunkly Republican
	Minty-freshly Republican
	Subtly Republican
	Mossbackily Republican
pollcode.com free polls

We'd like to extend our invitation to you to game the system

Incentives always matter and in Obamacare, they lead to suggestions of this sort:

People whose 2014 income will be a little too high to get subsidized health insurance from Covered California next year should start thinking now about ways to lower it to increase their odds of getting the valuable tax subsidy.

"If they can adjust (their income), they should," says Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation. "It's not cheating, it's allowed."

Under the Affordable Care Act, if your 2014 income is between 138 and 400 percent of poverty level for your household size, you can purchase health insurance on a state-run exchange (such as Covered California) and receive a federal tax subsidy to offset all or part of your premium.

If your income falls below 138 percent of poverty, you qualify for Medicaid, which provides no-cost health care to low-income people. In California, it's called Medi-Cal.

If your income is higher than 400 percent of poverty, you can purchase a policy on or off the exchange, but in either case, you won't get a subsidy and the policy must provide certain essential benefits that many low-cost individual policies lack today, such as maternity care.

So if you are a family of four, for example, you'd better not earn more than $94,200. If you earn $94,201, you could end up paying full freight on insurance, which would mean the extra dollar you earned could cost you about 10 grand in additional premiums. And if you don't need maternity care, well, tough luck, you gotta buy it, because it's "essential."

The larger issue is that working harder and earning that extra dollar is now a bad decision. Why try to get ahead? Let's all game the system and hope someone else will subsidize us. I don't see how that sort of regime is going to be sustainable in the long term.

I hope not

I really hope this is baseless:

A prominent Catholic priest and professor about to be sued for allegedly sexually abusing a Twin Cities-area girl more than a decade ago has taken a voluntary leave of absence from his priestly and teaching duties.

The Rev. Michael J. Keating, a popular Catholic Studies teacher at the University of St. Thomas, is on a voluntary leave of absence, Jim Accurso, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said Sunday. Accurso said he couldn’t discuss the reasons for the leave or any of the allegations involving Keating.

Lawyer Jeff Anderson, the woman’s attorney, said that his office notified Keating of the lawsuit on Saturday and plans to file the complaint Monday morning in Ramsey County District Court.

You would be hard pressed to find a priest who has done a better job of explaining Catholicism than Fr. Keating, who served as an assistant pastor at my home parish, St. John the Baptist, about 10 years ago. He is the best homilist I've ever seen in person, by miles.

1000 Words

The veterans who converged on Washington yesterday took down some of the barricades that are surrounding the monuments on the Mall and brought them to the White House. This picture might capture it better than anything else I've seen:

The best use for a Segway yet devised

Bad Obamacare Theatre

And now, time for an another episode of of "Bad Obamacare Theater." Here is your host, Leonard Pinth-Garnell:

That really wasn't so good, now was it?

Hello, I am Leonard Pinth-Garnell. Welcome to "Bad Obamacare Theatre." Today's work concerns the 2013 production of the libretto "Affordable Health Care Act is Ready for Business." The scene takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As we view the action, the accomplished actress Kathleen Sebelius plays the role of Kathleen Sebelius, embattled head of the Department of Health and Human Services, while her counterpart in this production is Dan Rooney, chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, which is coincidentally winless on the season. Let's take a look:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had a front-row view of the problems plaguing the website that the government established to allow people to shop for health insurance under Obamacare.

Sebelius and Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney were at an enrollment and education event on Thursday at Heinz Field to promote Healthcare.gov, but people who showed up encountered problems in signing up for coverage on the website.

Unable to handle heavy online traffic and riddled with technical glitches, the website has been a source of criticism of the Obama administration and the new Affordable Care Act since its start on Oct. 1.

Sebelius, who is making similar trips to cities across the country to spread the word about the website, told the audience of about 100 people that Healthcare.gov was “open for business.”

“Believe me, we had some early glitches,” said Sebelius, who was introduced by Rooney, a backer of the law. “But it's getting better every day.”

The action then turns to the back of the room, where the production company attempts to enroll curious Pittsburghers into the program:

At the back of the room, it was a different story. About 20 people armed with laptops and certified by the government to sign up people for coverage were meeting with uninsured people, answering questions and fruitlessly trying to access the website.

LaKesha Lowry, 41, came to the event to find out about her health insurance options. But the North Side resident said she was not able to access the site, even with the help of a certified application counselor.

“It said, ‘Try again later,' ” Lowry said.

There... That wasn't so good now, was it? Trite assurances, ineptly rendered, with amateurish technical production values and ultimately failure. Stunningly bad! Astonishingly ill-chosen! Bad, very bad. Really bites the big one!

Join us next time for a production of the comic opera "Solyndra, A Love Story." This is Leonard Pinth-Garnell. Good-bye.

Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Benster Gets Concrete Edition

Old dude, I'm still working on that Eagle Scout project! How do you feel about going back up to Isanti tomorrow?

I'm sure it will be a great joy for everyone.

Of course, because this is my greatest achievement, other than being the best prognosticator of HYYYYYYPPPE!

We hadn't seen the HYYYYYYYPPPE! in a while.

Well, I'm trying to cut down a little, but sometimes you have to release the Kraken. And this week requires it. Watch me work!

Northwestern Wildcats (+10.5) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers. This seems like a pretty high point spread, considering that Northwestern is actually a pretty good team. The last time the Badgers played Northwestern, they edged them 70-23 and earned the right to go to the Rose Bowl. You can quote me on saying this: Ohio State will lose two games before the season is complete. That means, if the Badgers win out, they would be going back to Indianapolis with a chance to play for history. Can the Badgers do their part? It starts Saturday, especially when Joel Stave shows the world that he is the best quarterback in the Big Ten. Wisconsin 70, Northwestern 23.

Two problems with your theory, Seabiscuit. The Badgers aren't as good this year as they were in 2010 and Northwestern is significantly better. I don't think they've completely closed the 47-point gap, but it's going to be a lot closer than you think. I do think the Badgers will score, though, and your guy Stave will throw at least 1-2 touchdown passes. But it's Melvin Gordon that the Wildcats should fear. Wisconsin 38, Northwestern 27.

Oklahoma Boomer Sooner (-13.5) vs. Texas Longhorns, at the Cotton Bowl. It's the Red River rivalry, the traditional game that ends the Texas State Fair and begins the death watch for the regime of Mack Brown. Texas is a mess this year, even though they have roadside signs every 25 feet or so that say "Don't Mess With Texas." The problem is, everyone is messing with Texas these days. Even though Texas barely escaped Iowa State last week after the officials blew a call that makes Tempe look temperate, they have the stench of loserdom written all over themselves. This is not a great Oklahoma team, but it won't take much. Boomer Sooner 21, The Eyes of Texas Are Upon Mack Brown 0.

We really ought to do this in video format sometime, young fella, so the people can hear your really bad Mack Brown imitation. The problem is that Mack Brown is doing a really bad imitation of himself, too. Oklahoma wins. Oklahoma 35, Texas 24.

Carolina Panthers (+2.5) vs. Minnesota Vikings. There's a lot of turmoil at Winter Park this week, between the arrival of Josh Freeman and the horrible story we heard about today. Before anything else, say a prayer for Adrian Peterson and for his son, so cruelly lost. Bad stuff. Anyway, back to the game. We get our first look at Scam Newton, who has been a professional now for three years officially and about nine years unofficially. He's been getting paid longer than the Old Dude, I swear. The bottom line is that the Panthers aren't a very good team, which is helpful for the Vikings. The Vikings are going to start Matt Cassel, which means that Christian Ponder is probably done. On the bright side, he has a pile of money and a really beautiful wife, so that's a good thing. Panthers 31, Vikings 17.

I think the Vikings will win. I feel very bad for Adrian Peterson, too. What an awful story. As for the game, I almost think it would be better for the Vikings if Cassel doesn't play too well; they brought in Freeman to play and if Cassel is too good, they'll have a hard time replacing him in the starting lineup. Vikings 24, Panthers 21.

Glorious Green Bay Packers (-2.5) vs. Baltimore Ravens. So let me get this straight. The Baltimore Ravens, defending Super Bowl champions, are a home dog? I get that the Packers are a good team, and I'm grateful that they are, but this is a very surprising point spread. The key question for the Packers is how they will weather the absence of Clay Matthews, who broke his thumb last week and is out for about a month. This is perhaps the toughest game on the road that they'll have before they go to Chicago at the end of the year. The thing about the Ravens is that their fearsome defense isn't really that fearsome any more. No Ray Lewis, no Ed Reed, no Paul Kruger. That's a lot of guys to replace. Can the Packers weather the storm? Of course they can. Packers 42, Ravens 35.

So you're saying bet the over, huh? The over/under on the game is 40.5. I think they'll play some defense on Sunday, but I think the Packers are better than the Ravens. I would not be surprised if this goes the other way, but. . . Packers 27, Baltimore 20.

Unfortunately, we can't pick da Bearz because they've already beaten the Giants. As it happens, everybody beats the Giants this year. Karma is biting the Giants big time. Sorry, Frosty Face Coughlin, but not really. Ben out!

Kabuki and the T-Men

The most interesting thing about the gubmint shutdown is that it appears to have also shut down the interest of the MSM in covering other things that are going on in Washington. Here I'd thought that the IRS scandal had gone away. Maybe not:

Earlier this week, the House Oversight Committee asked Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel some hard questions about the shifty, irresponsible, and possibly illegal transmission of confidential taxpayer data through private email accounts held by such key scandal figures as Werfel’s predecessor, Douglas Shulman, and Tax Exempt Organizations head Lois Lerner.

It turns out these emails were part of a collaboration between IRS officials and the White House, a discovery that would have triggered “Countdown to Impeachment” news specials under a Republican Administration, but barely even rates media attention during the Great Shutdown Drama.  Try to imagine left-wing groups mounting a legal challenge to Bush Administration policies, only to discover IRS officials were sending their confidential tax data to White House advisers, to assist the Bush team in preparing a defense.

The link has a particularly amusing round "I don't recall" theater in an exchange between Cong. Jim Jordan of Ohio and IRS staffer Sarah Hall Ingram, which you need to see to believe.

But here's the punchline: Ingram is now in charge of Obamacare enforcement:

The IRS official in charge of tax-exempt organizations when the unit targeted Tea Party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for enforcing ObamaCare and may have illegally shared confidential tax data.

It's bad enough that no one at the Internal Revenue Service has been meaningfully punished for the targeting of conservative groups before the 2012 election. Now we learn that, for some, the unconstitutional and illegal action was a good career move.

Sarah Hall Ingram, who served as commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division from 2009 to 2012, was so good at her job of suppressing the political speech of administration opponents by using the tax code as a bludgeon that she was rewarded during her tenure with four bonuses totaling $103,390.

Her salary went from $172,500 to $177,000 during that period, and she would also be rewarded with the post of director of the IRS' Affordable Care Act division.

It's nice to see people get ahead.

Kabuki and the Navigators

The best part about the shutdown kabuki, at least for the current presidential administration and its enablers everywhere, is that it tends to take the joy of Obamacare off the front pages, at least temporarily. It's a lot more fun to bash hapless John Boehner than it is to contemplate some of the unpleasantness that's already underway:

A congressional report titled “Risks of Fraud and Misinformation with ObamaCare Outreach Campaign: How Navigator and Assister Program Mismanagement Endangers Consumers” examines testimony from officials responsible for implementing the program.

Among its conclusions, “the main concern for consumers is the heightened risk of identity theft and financial loss from a poorly managed outreach campaign.”

The state of Illinois has tried to put extra safeguards in place for its navigator program. Illinois requires navigators to pass a background check to get a state navigator license, although this is not in federal requirements. The state also passed laws allowing the Department of Insurance to revoke navigator licenses in cases of misconduct.

However, navigator training lasts only three days, and much of it is spent completing a 20-hour online course. Concern centers on how adequately they are prepared to handle personal information.

Did you catch that? Do you suppose that an identity thief is especially concerned if the Illinois Department of Insurance revokes a "navigator license?" An enterprising identity thief could make off with a lot of money before the bureaucracy catches up.

The idea that hundreds of millions of people would have to go through websites and other means and surrender personal data, and that the process would go smoothly, has always been a fantasy. There is always a bit of larceny in the human heart and the potential honey pot that Obamacare is filling will attract a lot of people who'd like some easy money. And of course, the requirements for becoming a navigator are going to be lax, because the need for navigators is so great:

In August, the attorneys general of 13 states signed a letter listing their concerns about consumer privacy protection in connection with the navigator program. The letter highlights a risk of inadequate training for navigators and fewer consumer protections than is provided in the market—particularly regarding who is liable if information is stolen.

The letter states that the navigator program’s requirements are “less demanding than many federal privacy requirements, such as those applicable to federal census workers … without more protections, this is a privacy disaster waiting to happen.”

Do you expect more protections? Good luck with that. And if you say, well, that's Illinois, nothing like that could happen here in Minnesota, well, that's not exactly true, either.

Meanwhile, just so you know, the information you do provide could be getting shared. Consider this language from the State of Maryland:

We will not sell your information to others.  Any information that you provide to us in your application will be used only to carry out the functions of Maryland Health Connection. The only exception to this policy is that we may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities.

Emphasis mine. Your information is safe, but if Lois Lerner or Eric Holder needs it, they'll have it.

Remember -- pour your wrath on John Boehner. It'll make you feel a whole lot better.

Well, yeah

D. J. Tice, who really ought to write more often, in the Star Tribune:

Now what exactly is the allegation here? That the Vikings have a secret plan to extract enough money from their willing customers to cover their whole investment in the new facility?

Shocking, I’m sure. But we must face facts. One way or another, this is what every business does with every investment and every venture — at least if it means to stay in business.

You could almost define a “business” as an organization that seeks to induce willing customers to pay for every blessed thing it does — plus a little extra known to experts in the field as “profit.”

It’s true that firms sometimes finance investments, in whole or in part, with “their own money” — that is, with cash rather than debt or revenue from operations. But they do this only when, and only to the extent, that they come out ahead as a result.

Coming out ahead in the end is what makes any choice, in business terms, the right thing to do. Even department store fortunes are built that way.

There was a reason that Mark Dayton never went into the family business, and it wasn't that he was too high-minded to participate in something as grubby and unseemly as commerce.

Still nothing

Shutdown kabuki fun continues and it's boring.

Quarterbacks and Coaches

There's really no point in talking about politics at the moment since nothing is really happening until the game of chicken over the debt ceiling starts in earnest, but that's next week. So let's talk football.

I'll admit that I didn't see this coming:

The Vikings quarterback situation just became a lot more interesting. And crowded.

The team signed free agent Josh Freeman to a one-year deal reportedly worth $3 million late Sunday night, which presumably means Christian Ponder’s tenure is almost over.

Freeman must learn the Vikings offense, but the team’s aggressiveness in pursuing the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback indicates that they want him to replace Ponder as the starter as soon as possible.

A former first-round pick out of Kansas State, Freeman is only 25 but already is in his fifth NFL season. He has passed for 13,534 yards and 80 touchdowns with 66 interceptions.

Then again, I guess I should have seen it coming. Despite the many public pronouncements one heard about how confident the Vikings were with Christian Ponder, the pronouncements have seemed hollow, especially since it has always seemed that Ponder is at best a career backup. Freeman had a messy divorce with Tampa Bay and it's possible that a change of scenery is all he needs to get better, but the circumstances of his departure are a little sketchy. I suspect that this analysis of the deal from ESPN's Ben Goessling:

As much rope as the Vikings have tried to give Ponder, as strongly as they have supported him through his struggles, they've got too much on the line to go on like that without giving themselves options. Coach Leslie Frazier needs to produce enough wins to get a contract extension and keep his job. Running back Adrian Peterson is 28 years old, and might not have more than a couple years left at his peak. And if general manager Rick Spielman missed on Ponder with the 12th pick in the 2011 draft, he needs to act swiftly and limit the damage before deciding how the Vikings will move forward at the position, whether that's with Ponder, Freeman, Cassel or someone else. 

In the 20+ years I've lived in Minnesota, quarterback has been the eternal problem for the Vikings. Going just from memory, they've run out Wade Wilson, Jim McMahon, Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, Daunte Culpepper, Gus Frerotte, Brett Favre and Ponder as their primary quarterbacks, with an amusing selection of backups as well -- who could forget the glory of Spergeon Wynn? We've seen similar carousels in Detroit and Chicago over the years as well, although Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler have held their respective positions for a while now. It's just another reminder of how fortunate my beloved Green Bay Packers have been to have just two regular quarterbacks over that time period.

Meanwhile, I'm beginning to wonder whether Jerry Kill is going to make it in Minnesota. While Benster and I have given him some good natured ribbing over the years, he's an admirable guy in many ways. Still, missing a game against Michigan is a pretty big deal and the situation might be untenable now. While he's tried all manner of things to get his seizures under control, it's appearing less likely that a long-term solution is coming. You simply can't miss games unexpectedly when you're the head coach, no matter how good your staff seems to be. Norwood Teague, the Gopher AD, has publicly supported Kill, but he didn't hire Kill, so he doesn't necessarily have to be loyal to him. I'd not be surprised if we see yet another new regime come to the Twin Cities at the end of this season.

Benster and D Pick Your Games -- The Eagle Scout Attempts to Land Edition

Old dude, we don't have a lot of time tonight -- we're gonna be busy tomorrow. It's time for that Eagle Scout project!

Can I call in dead?

No -- you have work to do, too. Meanwhile, time's a wastin'. Watch me work!

Minnesota Golden Gophers (+19.5) vs. Meeshegan Wolverines. Last I checked, Michigan was the least impressive 4-0 team in the country, with stirring victories over Akron, UConn and Stevens Point Pacelli High School, I think. Anyway, it should tell you something when the Wolverines are favored by nearly 3 touchdowns against the Gophers, who played well until last week, when they got steamrolled by Iowa. It's possible to beat Michigan in Ann Arbor. But I doubt the Gophers can do that. Meeshegan 59, Gophers 0.

Feel the love, Jerry Kill. Feel the love. Michigan 34, Minnesota 17.

The Ohio State University Buckeyes (-7) vs. Northwestern Wildcats. Okay, so I was wrong about last week. Yes, Ohio State is very, very good, but this time they go on the road into what is the biggest game in the history of Northwestern, or at least in a long, long, long time. The last time the Wildcats were in the Rose Bowl, I had a rattle in my hand. If you're an Ohio State fan, be afraid. Oh, and one other thing -- what the heck is wrong with you, anyway? Northwestern 24, Ohio State 7.

Jared Abbrederis torched the Buckeyes last week. Northwestern has a couple of guys like Abbrederis. This will be a tough one for the Buckeyes. I think they survive, but barely. Ohio State 42, Northwestern 38.

Detroit Lions (+7) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers. The Packers had a bye last week. Historically, playing Detroit is like having two byes, but not this year. The Lions looked pretty good in dispatching Gino's beloved Bears last week, but the Lions haven't won in the State of Wisconsin since about 1869 or something. That's a lot of history. And just a reminder: as Aaron Rodgers said last season, "outside the sky is falling; but inside we're just fine." Packers 49, Lions 35.

Actually, that score is plausible. I'd bet the over, too. Packers 38, Lions 31.

New Orleans Saints (pick) vs. Bear Down Chicago da Bearz. The Saints look to be back in form this year, scoring points like crazy. Da Bearz got 40 hung on them last week in Detroit. This is the end of the Bears success and be on the lookout for a coaching change. Yes, already. Mark it down, boys. Saints 70, da Bearz 21.

Uh, no. I could see the Saints winning this game -- sure I could. But they won't score 70. New Orleans 35, Chicago 27.

Sorry for the abbreviated version, but I gotta pour me some concrete tomorrow, so I'd better rest up. Ben out!

Shutdown Theater is Shut Down in Wisconsin

Pretty close to speaking for itself:

The state Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday refused a directive from the National Park Service to close a host of popular state properties because of the federal government shutdown.

The park service ordered state officials to close the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine, Devil's Lake, and Interstate state parks and the state-owned portion of the Horicon Marsh, but state authorities rebuffed the request because the lion's share of the funding came from state, not federal coffers.

And there's more:

Even though federal lands such as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore have been shuttered, the DNR issued a statement saying all state parks, trails and other recreational properties were open and not affected by the federal government's budget problems.

The agency also reopened a boat launch Wednesday at Wyalusing State Park on the Mississippi River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed the launch on Tuesday because it was on federal land.

But in a sign of defiance, the DNR removed the barricades at the landing, saying it had the legal authority to operate the launch under a 1961 agreement with the federal government.

Remember -- it's a conscious decision to shut down parks and other federal facilities. And as much as people want to blame those bastard Tea Party types for this sort of thing, they aren't the ones making the decisions to shut down public facilities. As this drags on, expect to see more people deciding to remove the Barack-cades.

The Rich People's Stadium

I lived in the Chicago area in the early 1990s. From time to time, I'd go up to Milwaukee with one of my college buddies and we'd go to Packers games there, because in those days the Packers played part of their schedule at the old County Stadium. We'd time it so we'd arrive there a few minutes before game time and we'd be able to buy tickets from people looking to get rid of their tickets for a pretty cheap price, usually about $5. The cost for parking at County Stadium was about $3, so we could attend an NFL game, have a hot dog and even a beer for less than $20. And even though the Packers were terrible in those days, it was a lot of fun.

I share that story because those days are definitely not coming back, especially here in Minnesota:

The Minnesota Vikings’ most loyal fans will pay an average of $2,500 above the cost of a season ticket just to secure choice seats in the team’s new stadium, under an agreement approved Thursday by the public board overseeing the project.

Personal seat license fees, which are often used to help build or restore NFL venues, were part of stadium lease and development agreements OK’d by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which is supervising construction of the $975 million multipurpose venue.

The team and authority agreed to attach a one-time fee to 75 percent of the seats in the 65,000-seat stadium, charging season-ticket holders anywhere from $500 to $10,000, depending on the seat. The remainder of the seats, including some held by season-ticket holders, would not carry such fees.

It's likely that the "remainder of the seats" might as well be in your basement. I haven't priced Vikings tickets lately, but I'd be quite surprised if you'd be able to get a pair for less than $2,500 when the new stadium opens. If you factor in paying another five large for the provisional right to plunk down that $2,500 for season tix, you're talking about a pretty expensive outlay. And I'm guessing that parking near the stadium isn't going to be $3, either.

Gov. Mark Dayton has spent a lot of time calling the new stadium "the People's Stadium." I don't think too many people are going to be able to swing this kind of money. It won't be the "most loyal fans" who can pay this freight. It will be corporate interests who will use the tickets to entertain clients. Please understand -- as an evil capitalist dupe, I don't have a problem with that, since it's been the case in most NFL markets for decades now. I just wonder if all the money that's envisioned in this deal is actually going to materialize.

What's going on with the exchanges?

Either they're great or they're a train wreck -- that's what you hear about the Obamacare exchanges. I'm not an expert, but my guess is that they can't handle the traffic load. Meanwhile, Megan McArdle asked an expert and there could be a number of things going on:

The various glitches, he pointed out, “could very easily be because deadline pressure caused them to take some shortcuts that impacted their ability to scale.”

Such as?

“The aforementioned let's-hit-the-database-for-security-questions thing.”

Why would they use such a seemingly obvious poor design?

“It can be easier to make a call to another server to get something when you need it than to implement a cache that you prepopulate either from static files or from the database on startup. Making a call to another server is also something you'd naturally think to do if you hadn't had to focus on scalability before. The security question page is probably not the thing you're most concerned about, so you give it to the new hire to do as their starter project. They don't know what they're doing, so they implement it the straightforward way … and since you're under unbelievable deadline pressure to get something working now nobody reviews it in detail.”

Emphasis mine. Let's remember that Obamacare was signed into law on March 30, 2010. That would be 3 and a half years ago. You have to wonder about what's been going on if they have to take shortcuts because of deadline pressure. You would also think that by asking for a delay in implementation, the Republicans would actually be doing the Democrats a favor. You would be wrong, of course.

res ipsa loquitur

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explains it to CNN's Dana Bash:

Keeping Gardy, Losing Vänskä

Some interesting comings and goings in recent days, as the Twins announced that they were going to stay with longtime manager Ron Gardenhire for another two years, even as they acknowledged that the product they put on the field over the past three seasons has been pretty abysmal. Meanwhile, on the other side of Nicollet Mall, the longtime conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä, has bailed out on the organization after musicians rejected another contract offer that follows a year-long lockout of the orchestra.

I'll admit to being a philistine, since I haven't been a regular orchestra-goer over the years. Having said that, it's always been great to have the option of going to see the Minnesota Orchestra, which has been a world-class organization under Vänskä. The larger issue for the orchestra is that its year-long absence hasn't seemed intolerable to the local citizenry. Life has gone on and those who have been the orchestra's patrons have found other uses for their entertainment dollars.

As for the Twins, they need to do something to change things up. We continue to hear reports of the great deeds of future phenoms, but there's never a guarantee, even with guys who are as talented as Byron Buxton or Miguel Sano. We somehow never made it to Target Field this season and no one in this baseball-crazy household seemed too sad about it. In fact, the only MLB game we saw this year was in Cincinnati, where we saw two playoff teams, the Reds and the Oakland Athletics, play a spirited game. We also left with Joey Votto bobbleheads and certificates from the Reds congratulating us on our first visit to the Great American Ballpark, all for significantly less than it typically costs to get into Target Field to see a listless team get their butts kicked. I'm not sure that firing Gardy would have helped, but the Twins had better put a little more effort into improving the product on the field.

Clarity

A reminder -- The Affordable Care Act, which passed through Congress without a single Republican vote, is the law of the land and must not be challenged. Act 10, which passed through the Wisconsin legislature without a single Democratic vote, is illegitimate and must be overturned.

I think I have that right.

Narrative established, or Boehnermandias

While I can't be sure that anyone is actually going to be reading these words, since it's possible and even likely that the government shutdown has killed every single one of us in our sleep, future historians who stumble upon the ruins of our civilization will know who was responsible for bringing us to this nefarious moment of unspeakable peril. Allow the Associated Press to explain, via the Strib:

For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government staggered into a partial shutdown early Tuesday morning after congressional Republicans stubbornly demanded changes in the nation's health care law as the price for essential federal funding and President Barack Obama and Democrats adamantly refused.

As Congress gridlocked, Obama said a "shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away," with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed and veterans' centers, national parks, most of the space agency and other government operations shuttered.

Emphasis mine. Is it better to be stubborn or adamant? Well, let's see: the online Merriam-Webster dictionary says the following:

Unreasonably and perversely unyielding, doncha know

Meanwhile, adamant is a smidge less pejorative:

Unshakable and determined? That's good, right?

The position that the sainted Democrats take is this: we won, so we get to spend whatever money we want and that's that. It isn't particularly important that the Republican House sent numerous proposals over to the Senate, each a little more conciliatory than the previous one, since the Democrats are sainted, and saints are adamant. It's those stubborn Republican bastards who won't get with the program, since it's unreasonable and perverse to disagree with Democrats. I'm sure that all of this is true, because it's right there in the paper. Some future Shelley will record it thus:

 I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of orange face,
Tell that the AP well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on employer mandates,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Boehnermandias, House Speaker:
Look on my works, ye Harry, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.