Random Rambling

Just a thought. Perhaps it’s a blinding glimpse of the obvious. But the Dean Johnson shibboleths of “embellishment” and “sanding off the truth” really clarify the endless insults that petty tyrants never tire of.

In addition to Dean Johnson’s continuing slouch toward the truth, the past couple of weeks has seen the release of the Minneapolis report on the economic impact of the smoking ban, in which the stated conclusions are embellishments that aren’t supported by the data of the report itself and the defeat in committee of Rep. Mark Buesgens Education Access Grant legislation.

In the brief discussion before the Buesgens bill was voted down, and in the testimony opposing the bill, the same old arguments against school choice were raised again and again. In his final statement, Busegens dealt with every one, yet the bill went down.

A bit of irony -- at the hearing I talked with Rabbi Joshua Borenstein of Torah Academy, Salah Ayari, principal of Al-Amal Islamic school, and Peter Noll, director of education for the Archdioceses of the Twin Cities, all unified in support of the educational access grant bill. The woman testifying against the bill on behalf of the Jewish Community Relations Council cited Minnesota’s Blaine Amendment, irrelevant to vouchers constitutionally and born in an era of anti-Catholic bigotry, as a reason to vote against the legislation.

It’s about an hour and a half. It’s well worth watching. Here’s a link to the House Education and Policy committee Meeting. You’ll either laugh or cry.