Secrets of the City

Mark at Norwegianity has sure got his panties in a twist over a limp-wristed Target boycott. Does the guy have stock or something? I mean, Target’s pretty progressive, but, geez: he’s creamin’ his jeans over this. He actually writes that the boycott (just a blip on the radar of the Left, if you ask me) is distracting from the real issues progressives should be dealing with: capitalizing on the Bush implosion. Seems to me, Norwegianity might ignore an ineffective boycott to dedicate precious pixels to the very issues he’s blaiming Kos and Americablog for ignoring. I agree that more facts need to be known before there’s a boycott, but he’s expended so many words on this you’ve gotta wonder. As he’s a MNSpeak reader, maybe he’ll spout a few hundred more here and let us all know.

MOB bloggers?

maybe there’s an opening in the target PR department. it is funny how a smallish blogger (norwegianity) is crusading on behalf of a gigantic megacorporation that you’d imagine can worry about itself. corporate america needs its citizen defenders, i guess.

Boycott, Boycott! It’s easy to scream but the effects rarely have any effect. I think the thing that is so ridiculous about this whole Target thing is that it was most likely a set up. You walk into a place that doesn’t even carry the Plan B looking to fill a non-emergency perscription (This is at least the synopsis of the situation I can tell from the various stories) and you are upset that the person wouldn’t sell you them IF they had them and refers you to another local pharmacy that actually carries the script. The whole thing reeks of a set up.

That being said Target is being wishy-washy but what choice do they have. It’s all nice for individuals to take stands that only affect them and would rarely cost them in any sense but businesses need to walk the line and not turn off large protions of thier customers.

MOB = Minnesota Organization of Bloggers. The right-winger local blogosphere. (Unless the question mark was intended to question why I’d link to it? I just thought it was a good list. Nihilist is my favorite conservative blogger in town — it seems conservative in the way that I’m liberal. See also: Top 11 Changes In Store for St. Paul Under Mayor Chris Coleman.)

Lets go to a new topic…

Is it going to be another winter of meteorologists screaming blizzard all winter? Where are my 5-7 inches. MMMM 7 inches!

Couldn’t the weather be one place in the news where we get actual information without completely over blowing it!

thanks, rex. i didn’t know the acronym. (MOB)

Keep those CJ links coming!

…as long as you keep clicking on them. (Quick math for you: CJ links are contained in about 2% of total MNspeak posts. Good or bad, like it or not, the percent of MNspeak mentions in CJ columns over the past six months is quite a bit higher.)

The Strib article about the downtown has a number of minor eyebrow-raisers. One being that this “expert” mentions MOA in the same breath as “downtown” — a misnomer that for some reason irks me to no end.

The other is the Downtown Council president’s telling quote of “but a study like this, if it paints the situation in anything less than glowing terms, is of no relevance to us.” Gives a good indication of how objective leaders and planners are.

C.J. actually has really good t-shirts for sale. “Evidence suggests that Sen. Strom Thurmond found black women irresistable.” I’ve new found respect for her.

If this is the correct Mpls/MOA reference… I took it mean that we have quite a lot of downtown retail compared to other cities, and that this was especially surprising for Mpls since we also have the MOA nearby.

And she did say in an interview that Minneapolis has the makings of a great 24-hour downtown.

“Minneapolis is really unusual in having as much downtown retail as it has,” she said. “How many downtowns still have department stores? Zero! And what’s really amazing is that you also have the Mall of America!”

I was puzzled by, “How many downtowns still have department stores? Zero!”

Chicago, Seattle, even Saint Cloud…

Oh, maybe that is what she meant. I bet you are right. Good, now I don’t have to spend the rest of the day irked. Irk = fun word.

I found the most interesting thing about the Downtown Mpls article was that with all the criticism of the city, they forgot the sharp increase in crime. All over America, crime has decreased in our inner cities, yet Minneapolis is quickly reacquiring its “Murderapolis” label.