Tiptoeing up to the Precipice

Lori Sturdevant almost, almost criticizes DFLers in today's Strib. Of course, she never quite gets there, but she almost manages to say something negative about the DFL senate majority:

Minnesota Senate DFLers learned at the feet of their longtime leader, Roger Moe, not to make a major move in the middle of a legislative session unless it helps set up the desired end game.

So there must be some plausible end-of-session reason for the unusual budget-balancing bill the Senate majority popped out and passed last week -- however indecipherable it is now.

The bill the DFLers (sans Sen. Steve Kelley of Hopkins, who voted no) are boasting about this long weekend balances the state budget, all right -- in a way they themselves can't stand.

Now what she wants is higher taxes on Minnesotans who as a group are not exactly undertaxed to begin with, not a goal I agree with, but she at least recognizes the dishonesty in the Senate DFL's proposal. Too bad she just can't say it directly.

Contrast that to Garrison Keillor who on Easter just can't help but take a swipe at a fellow Christian.

The fate of Terri Schiavo is one that everybody over 50 has considered long ago. The particular hell of a living death is one our parents sought to avoid. They didn't ask us to suffocate them with a pillow, but they did make it clear that lying inert in a nursing home was not how they envisioned spending their twilight years. Twilight is supposed to be brief. They were crystal clear about this. The state courts of Florida, and now the federal courts, seem to be clear on this. What's not clear is the dramatic intervention of the president of the United States, striding into the White House after his last-minute flight from Texas, deciding to "err on the side of life." One hopes that he will go on to make even bigger mistakes in behalf of children who lack basic medical care, or in behalf of suicidal teenagers. All week the news was about lawyers and politicians and rhetorical flourishes and there was almost nothing about the woman herself or who she was, may she rest in peace.

Hey Gar, could you for just one day refrain from implying the president is a religious hypocrite? Does that just stretch the notion of Christian charity too much for you? May I suggest that you go back to Lake Woebegon and just stay there?