A letter has just been released to students, faculty, and staff in the past hour indicating that the president of the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul) is reversing his earlier decision to bar Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu from speaking at a spring, 2008 youth peace conference on campus.  (The story is now up on the Star Tribune website.)  

Already diaried by Walter Ballin, betson08, and Randian, the developing controversy surrounding Desmond Tutu, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and academic freedom at the University of St. Thomas has taken a dramatic turn today.  The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that UST administrators have been flooded with over 1,800 emails(plus an unknown number of letters and faxes) calling for a reversal of the administration's decision to ban Tutu.  Yet, UST President Rev. Dennis Dease, in a letter released yesterday to the campus community, refuses to give an inch.  

This is where we Kossacks can step in and lend a hand.  Or shall we say, a kick in the ass...

http://www.startribune.com/...

The Republican Party that collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday was rated as "structurally deficient" two years ago and possibly in need of replacement.

A spokesman for Minnesota Governor Gonzo Pawlenty said the party was aware of the 2005 assessment. "We've seen it, and we are very familiar with it," he said.  But he declined to say what the party had been planning to do to address the deficiencies found in 2005.  "I don't recall.  These were 'other programs' which I'm not at liberty to discuss."

I've just lived through thirty hours of disaster coverage here in Minnesota and I am pissed.  They'll be pulling more bodies out and my thoughts go to the families of those still waiting for word on their loved ones (this was the case for me for a few hours Wednesday night, too, waiting to check in--via clogged cell phone lines--with a family member in the Twin Cities).  

But now I'm thinking more about the larger meaning of the I-35W bridge collapse and what it stands for as a symbol, for our state and our country.  I know there will be plenty of petty finger-pointing to go around, as was begun in the Rose Garden already Thursday morning.  But let's ask a larger question.

What does the collapse symbolize in relation to the underlying political philosophy of the upcoming Republican National Convention, which will be held here in the Twin Cities in 2008?  Join me after the flip...