Across the Great Divide

News Flash: Investigation is Biased Because Kersten Says So.

Katherine Kersten has a blog, which must be a great relief to her Star Tribune editors. That gives their columnist an outlet for her more thinly supported pieces, like this one in which she criticizes findings by a law firm hired by a legislative committee to investigate how MnDOT policies and decision-making processes might have been a contributing factor in the I-35W bridge collapse.

Are you curious about their previous experience with bridges or transportation issues? Among the legal eagles at the lawyers’ “presentation” yesterday, according to the Star Tribune, were Bob Stein, who describes himself as “a nationally recognized authority in the areas of estate planning, trusts, and decedents’ estates.” And of course Tom Johnson, a former Minneapolis City Council Member and Hennepin County Attorney who, among other things, describes himself as an “advisor to numerous political candidates.”

— "News flash: Law firm hired by DFL legislators to investigate bridge collapse finds DFL was right!," Katherine Kersten's Think Again

Of course, if you're curious and expect more than perfunctory and partisan perspective, Kersten is not the source you would rely upon.

Here she hauls out her "quotes" technique to give an impression of "impartial research" to her "investigation." But check the link to Bob Stein's bio. You will note it lists two areas of practice, including "Complex Investigations." Tom Johnson's bio, should you click on the link, lists his political advising under community involvement. One wonders which former public officials do not advise numerous political candidates and why leading a large county attorney's office would not be relevant to investigating a highly politicized state department.

The knock on these gentlemen, in Kersten's book, is that they were paid out of DFL-controlled legislative committee budgets, and they have not larded their resumes with mention of bridges and transportation issues.

Never mind that the investigation they led was not into the direct cause of the bridge collapse, but is into management and organizational systems that may have contributed to overlooking technical problems. Never mind that the leaders of this sort of investigation don't do the technical heavy lifting. And never mind that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation is starting from the other end of the telescope.

And never mind that the NTSB that Kersten seems to think should have the final word built its reputation investigating airplane and rail accidents, not bridge collapses.

Although, the NTSB is world renowned in airline investigations, the last bridge collapse they investigated was in 2004 in Oklahoma when a tugboat rammed a bridge support -- not much question as to cause. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to 1990, in Pocomoke City, Maryland. So, "gold standard" might be a little exaggerated in this case; actually, the jury is still out on "medal" awards.

According to House Transportation Committee chair Rep. Jim Oberstar, "there is huge skepticism about the objectivity of the board in conducting this inquiry." 

Oberstar's criticism of the agency comes at a time when the NTSB is stretched thin. The highway division of the NTSB that is investigating the 35W bridge collapse is the smallest unit of the agency. The agency's overall budget hasn't been increased in several years, but Chairman Rosenker didn't ask for an increase in funding for next year.

Both Rosenker and his predecessor have been criticized for politicizing the agency. It's also been criticized for its lack of expertise in transportation.

None of the current NTSB members has a background in engineering. Chairman Rosenker is a long-time Republican loyalist, going back to service on Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President. His official bio neglects that detail but plays up his decades-old experience as a lobbyist for the "American Safety Belt Council, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the Safety Helmet Council of America. He later served as Director of Communications for the American Moped/Motorized Bicycle Association." whose safety expertise appears limited to lobbying for seat belt and helmet manufacturers. Dave Mindemann has more about politicization of the Board under President Bush.

Kersten also neglects to note that:

The day after the bridge collapse, Gov. Tim Pawlenty hired the firm of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE) to conduct a "parallel" investigation. This firm is now working hand-in-hand with the NTSB, under a contract administered by MnDOT. However, WJE is also under obligation to represent MnDOT in any litigation stemming from the collapse -- a clear conflict of interest that undermines the work of the NTSB.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor has also investigated the department and found it lacking. The non-partisan OLA findings helped push Molnau out the door as head of MnDOT.

Of course transportation funding and MnDOT itself are highly politicized; they simply became more so under Lt. Gov. Molnau's leadership and Pawlenty's approach to underfunding. And when all the reports are on the table, Minnesotans should have a pretty clear picture of the extent of the damage.

Advance News Flash: Kersten won't see it.

The Blind Blogging about the Blind.

I'll admit it. One of the conservative blogs I make a regular point of reading is SCSU Scholars. More accurately, I read King Banaian. I agree with him infrequently, but I appreciate that he's writing in his field of expertise, he supports his points and links to sources, and he often seeks to instruct, not simply to persuade.

I have learned to skip the posts of Janet Beihoffer, the other "scholar" who writes there, for reasons that quickly become apparent. Here's one of her latest reports on an appearance by Rep. Michele Bachmann:

Our speaker was Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, mother of five, foster mom of 23. Anyone who has heard her speak knows how dynamic and accurate her talks are. Michele has a law degree [CQ Note: from the now defunct Bible-based Coburn School of Law, an affiliate of Oral Roberts University] and masters degree in tax law from William and Mary College. She focused on two topics today: taxes and energy.

In the early 1950's, families paid about 5% of their total income in taxes; today, they pay about 50%. In 1987, when Michele was getting her masters degree in tax law, she did a projection of what her son, then age 4, would have to pay to support all the government programs put in place by liberal baby boomers. 25% of her son's earnings in his highest earning years would be needed just to pay social security for boomers. This did not include taxes for medicare, state, estate, income, etc. In total, up to 85% of what her son would earn in his 30's and 40's would go to pay for boomer socialist programs. Breaking the backs of future generations is not wise.

Let's assume for the moment Janet is accurately reporting what the dynamic and accurate Bachmann said.

Here's table showing the federal income tax rates for 1953. The "normal" taxa rate was 3%, but various surcharges and adjustments that began post-Depression and were continued to pay off World War II costs boosted the marginal rates much higher.

A family of four earning median income in 1955 also paid an average of 1.71% for social security. And we still haven't added any state income taxes, sales and property taxes, excise taxes on fuel, booze and tobacco...

Now, let's look at that 50% families are supposedly paying today.

The Congressional Budget Office calculates an effective federal tax rate. In 2008, for middle one-fifth of households, it's 15.9% of income. In Minnesota, the oft-cited Tax Incidence Report puts a middle-earning household's total state taxes at about 12.4%, depending on which decile you choose.

Now, you can argue differences between the published rates, effect of averages and what individual families actually pay in taxes, but it's pretty clear that most 50s-era families paid more than 5% of their total incomes in taxes and today pay much less than 50%.

Bachmann's calculation of her son's future tax burden is equally loony, but scholar Beihoffer — a part-time, adjunct information systems instructor at Metro State University — reports it all with a straight face.

Separating Right and Wrong.

A few weeks ago, blogger Two-Putt Tommy took a cheap shot at Sen. Norm Coleman through his wife, Laurie Coleman, who is promoting a hair dryer holder called Blo & Go. I didn't write about his juvenile stunt at the time and don't plan to now, because I thought it was in bad taste and not at all germane to Coleman's performance as a senator.

But I am interested in what Tommy said since.

The point is correct: even when the shot is open, even when the target damn near asked for it, doesn’t mean it’s still right to take the shot.

I was wrong. Taking that shot at Mrs. Coleman is a shot I should not have taken. The point I was going after with the complaint to the State Of California was the financial aspect; that’s where I should have focused. It’s where I’ll focus, in the future.

What brought about Tommy's change of mind? He listened to a Coleman partisan's point of view and reconsidered. He listened to a conservative blogger who just this week published his reckless speculation that Coleman's opponent, Al Franken, had forged the signature of a doorman at his apartment building.

Tommy's shot at Coleman was well-documented by comparison. Yet he was open to the thinking from the other side, which is a progressive characteristic. Meanwhile, good luck getting Mr. Right to admit he was wrong.

Anonymous Left-Leaning Blogger Almost Breaks Story!

Ollie at A Bluestem Prairie already posted about the Strib story on the accounting woes of the State  GOP, and she fills in the blank, naming the anonymous blogger mentioned here:

Last month, GOP party chairman Ron Carey said, “Why do Hollywood celebrities think there is one set of rules for them and one set of rules for everyone else when it comes to paying taxes?”

A left-leaning blogger tried to ask Carey about the party’s FEC reports at a news conference the GOP called last week to highlight Franken’s problems. Carey dismissed him, saying the press briefing “is something for our credentialed media here.”

If it had been a certain right-leaning blogger, of course, Carey wouldn't have called on him either, but that's because the blogger would have already received and leaked the substance of the GOP story prior to the press conference. And the Strib would've had no problem identifying said blogger, even without seeing his Real ID media credential.

Here, we're taking no position on the state party's filing troubles, having already gone on record as defending the right of Democrats to make paperwork mistakes. However, let's note this isn't the only level at which the Party of Business has had accounting troubles. And the left-leaning blogger isn't the only one getting stiffed by Carey on this story.

Carey did not respond this week to Star Tribune requests for an interview about the FEC filings.

Short and Sour.

Here's why I read this blog:

“Three Girl Scouts fainted in [Pope Benedict's] presence.” 

Isn’t this the kind of thing that had the hard right frothing about what a fraud Obama was/is?

I Feel I Should Show Up.

The boys are at it again, and I promised not to miss the next one, but I'm a bit out of range to make it to Intermedia Arts on April 1st.

Instead of repeating themselves with another speed lecture series, Troy Gallas and Colin Kloecker, young designers who brought us Solutions Twin Cities, are curating an exhibit and other events that merge "data visualization, artistic expression, and interactive installations."

It's called W(e are)here: Mapping the Human Experience, and the gallery speak may not get you too excited, but there's a beer prelude at Herkimer Pub & Brewery at 5 pm Tuesday and a mapping mashup /meetup and...

The promo site will give you a better idea of what to expect on Tuesday as well as the rest of the exhibition run.

While there, I ran across We Feel Fine, which I gather is part of the exhibition, but you can also explore it online. It searches blogs for versions of the phrase "I feel" and then incorporates the statement in an interactive "exploration of emotion on a global scale."

I feel certain I'll be showing up there soon.

Wegeless in Gaza.

I can't let Norwegianity go dark — or in this case, go light — without  a word from here.

Yesterday, Mark Gisleson shut down his blog to embark on an sports news aggregator. The new project will be as apolitical as Norwegianity was fiercely political.

Mark could be cantankerous, profane and insufferably opinionated. He never cut the upper dogs any slack and never forgot what it was like to be an under dog — not just drawing from his own experiences, but from working with thousands of people scratching for the American Dream on the fringes of the economy.

His outsider stance meant he could illuminate issues in ways you'd see nowhere else. Sometimes his refusal to concede a point could become tedious, and I did not share all his obsessions or his anger, but much of the time I was glad to watch a warrior who had a stomach for the fight.

It can be hard to see generosity in someone with such sharp elbows, but it managed to shine through in Norwegianity. He might swipe large swatches of material from the New York Times, but he almost always made you go to the original when the source was less illustrious. He often linked to me, and for that alone, I am grateful.

It was a rare post that contained fewer than 10 links. On a more typical, multi-post day, you would have to give up your day job and half the night to read all he submitted for your consideration. I have no idea how he managed it, but he had to be one of the very best-read people I have met.

I know I'll be less connected to new ideas and experiences now that Mark has moved on.

There Goes the Neighborhood.

Last night I took a stroll through a bad neighborhood.

Something had changed.

Being a tolerant-but-I-can-take-care-of-myself sort, I usually do this without much trepidation, looking people in the eye and exchanging words in a firm but respectful way. I also stay out of the really bad places in the middle of the night; this was an area where I go frequently.

Not that I was ever completely welcome, I'd still get something out of these excursions and, who knows, maybe gave something.

But last night felt different. I kept moving.

What new signal was hitting my antennae? The details aren't the point so much as the general vibe that seemed so consistent wherever I went —  catching up on the RSS feeds in my "conservative" folder.

Understand, I don't bother myself with the extreme flamers, left or right. These are conservative blogs I read semi-regularly — writers I can count on to make sense on occasion, even when we disagree. I don't get overly worked up over a periodic insane post.

But this time, every place I went, everything seemed to be turned up a notch — hysteria at some perceived injustice, intolerance for others and/or deliberately misleading rhetoric.

As conservatives feel their death grip on government loosen, they may be lashing out harder. Realizing they are starting to lose troops from the reasonable fringes, they seek to rally the true believers for a definitive battle.

The nastier tone reminded me of a quote I'd recently read on The Deets, from a Paul Graham post on comment trolls. He listed reasons why reasonable discourse gets extinguished from comment threads — distance, commenters who are more comfortable dealing with abstract ideas than with people, and incompetents with nothing original to say trying to make a mark.

The final contributing factor is the culture of the forum.  Trolls are like children (many are children) in that they're capable of a wide range of behavior depending on what they think will be tolerated. In a place where rudeness isn't tolerated, most can be polite. But vice versa as well.

There's a sort of Gresham's Law of trolls: trolls are willing to use a forum with a lot of thoughtful people in it, but thoughtful people aren't willing to use a forum with a lot of trolls in it. Which means that once trolling takes hold, it tends to become the dominant culture.

And when bloggers start writing for the troll culture, there goes the neighborhood.

Thinking Blogs

A couple nice compliments flew my way last week.

The first was being tagged by Charles at Views of Minnesota for being one of five blogs that make him think. This qualifies me to display the Thinking Blogger Award, but I find that little homunculus a bit disturbing, so I will only show it here this once.

I don't display my Spotty awards, either. Is it ungracious not to? But these are awards "won" with one vote. I realize that's a bigger margin than George W. took to the White House in 2000, but once taken out of context, it might assume more importance that it actually signifies.

Anyway, to fully merit the award, I'm also supposed to tag/link to five other blogs, thus setting up another dilemma. Having won an award with one vote, I am now being encouraged to devalue my win by multiplying the number of winners in a viral fashion.

Links in my posts already indicate blogs that make me think, laugh, get mad  or agree. Calling out five right now fills me with angst. First, who will I have to leave out? Will they be hurt? What will people think if I don't have five provocative choices? But if I don't list any, will that come across as arrogant, as if no one can make me think? If I break the chain, will my cats die?

I'll spare you the rest. But if you know of an award for over-thinking bloggers, feel free to nominate me.

The other kind words I appreciated even more. They came in an email from a reader I knew was out there but have never met:

I must  confess something to you......I have been a very conservative Christian for  many years. I have voted straight Republican for most of my voting life (21  years) and have been one who wouldn't even listen to the other side. Every  time a Democrat came on tv, I would turn it. I went 8 years not listening to the President when Clinton was in office.

I am very, very disappointed  in what the Republicans have shown me in the past several years. So much  hypocrisy. So, this election year, I am actually listening to BOTH sides.  Don't know who in the hell I am going to vote for and don't really even want  to vote but I am a former soldier and feel strongly that I am not serving my country if I do not vote.

It is through your blogs that I have become more open to the other side. So, thanks for what you do!!! You really  have a talent and passion for getting the truth out  there.

I consider myself amply rewarded.

Local Papers Play a Bigger Role Now.

The strength of blogging isn't in necessarily breaking new material, but slicing and dicing other people's stuff to create a more accurate picture.
— Norwegianity

Mark Gisleson's comment at Norwegianity about Bob Collins' Newscut is right on — about MPR's news blog and the value of good blogging when larger metro newspapers retrench and don't cover as much news with as many resources.

Blogs don't just grow in value by providing synthesis you might otherwise expect from a good statewide newspaper. The value of smaller newspapers, especially those outside the metro orbit with online editions, will  also grow — because they are already covering the local news that the "localizing" Strib strategy is supposed to be about.

The local reporters may not provide the larger context — for reasons of experience, time and resources or local  editorial sensitivity. But they can provide us rebroadcasters with the facts and quotes we need to do that.

The Collins post drew from a report in the Winona Daily News, for example. My latest story — about how a national Republican talking point on jobs and taxes [part one here] showed up in Minnesota — grew from a story in the  Redwood Falls Gazette.

The local reporter covered an event that would never have drawn any big city attention — legislator picks up plaque from beer haulers and bar owners. But his story gave me a hook for an analysis of how Republicans routinely whip up fear of Big Government without reference to the facts.

Of course Bluestem Prairie has been doing this kind of thing (reporting, digests and amplifications, I mean) daily in the First District since 2006.

We all have those local papers to thank — and hope they can keep it up.