I don’t understand how the Star Tribune can justify publishing their most recent editorial, Strong Leadership Leads to Stadium Deal.
While it is true that our state and city leaders were the ones who crafted and negotiated what will eventually be a stadium, the process does not suggest “strength” anywhere:
- Strong leaders are willing to make choices for the advantage of their followers, not for the advantage of a few billionaires who don’t really need their help to get something accomplished.
- Strong leaders think of the future as opportunity for the children they lead, not as an unlimited gold-filled purse that some one else can fill.
- Strong leaders do whatever they can to help us all, not knowingly sacrifice a percentage of us with gambling addiction to “get it done.”
- Strong leaders understand priorities and that our love of a game should never have precedence over our ability to educate, house, clothe, feed each other, or go to the doctor.
- Strong leaders seek guidance from their followers, don’t hide from them behind closed doors and talk between offices to ensure they don’t violate pesky transparency rules.
- Strong leaders don’t let their morals and beliefs be hijacked by the wealthy, corporate America, or labor unions.
- Strong leaders don’t push green, just because they want to be able to say “I told you so” in 10 years.
- Strong leaders lead, they don’t follow their caucus when they know it is just wrong.
“[T]hree Republican senators offered a plan Thursday that would limit any direct public subsidy to the team to a $300 million loan. The proposal — which the Vikings and Gov. Mark Dayton quickly dismissed — took the stadium debate at the state Capitol in an entirely different direction: Arguing that the team should only be offered minimal assistance and nothing beyond what other businesses could expect. The three senators, led by Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, said that the state should not be involved in whether the stadium had ‘gold-plated tile’ and needed to cost $1 billion. The Legislature ‘shouldn’t have an interest in whether they build a stadium with a roof or astro-turf, or how many suites they have, or whether it’s in Ramsey County,’ said Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, a co-author of the proposal. ‘Those are things that the business itself ought to work out with local communities who have interest in hosting that site.’
Sounds sensible to me.
I played around with the burst settings on my camera over the weekend. Here’s the first group of photos I’ve compiled so far.
