It looks as if Al Franken is going to win the contested Senate race in Minnesota.  No, check that.  I mean “awarded” the seat.  The situation in Minnesota is a symptom of what is wrong with the Republican organization in this country today.  It is easy to blame Norm Coleman’s loss on shady elections practices, but the reasons behind his defeat run much deeper than that.

Quick, what did the American colonists fight and die for during the Revolutionary War?  Was is freedom of religion?  Freedom from control of the King?  Desire for self-rule?  How about taxes?  Two to three cents per gallon of rum, a couple pennies to file a legal document and a few cents for products imported from Great Britain like paint, lead and glass.  It doesn’t seem like much, but in large part, the war for independence was fought because of taxes imposed rather arbitrarily by England.

Albert Einstein said that nothing could go faster than the speed of light.  Which as you can imagine, takes a lot of the fun out of interplanetary travel. Thank goodness for the Warp Drive!

Well, here we go again.  The issue of racism rears it’s ugly head.  Where does it come from this time?  A right wing extremist skin-head, hugging his gun and living on nuts and berries in the mountains of Montana?  No, not exactly.  How about Bobby Rush, Democratic U.S. Representative from Chicago?