Brett's blog — Public hearing on Weyaus censure

Brett Larson — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:37:52 +0100

I couldn't make the hearing at the Mille Lacs Band Government Center today because I was a conference in the Cities and we couldn't spare another reporter. The hearing was required because the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's Tribal Executive Committee censured Secretary/Treasurer Herb Weyaus for refusing to allow Melanie Benjamin's name to be on the ballot for the special election for chief executive, which occurred after Weyaus and the Band Assembly removed Benjamin from office.

I wilRead More...

Brett's blog: They were THAT close!

Brett Larson — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:51:27 +0100

Good thing I'm not much of a football fan or that game last night would've ruined my day, if not my week.

Poor Favre has to come back now, because he did it again: Made a boneheaded play potentially the final play of his career.

Sure, we never would've been there without him, either in the championship game or driving with a chance to win (even if he did cough it up once and throw it away once already). The defense and Favre kept them in while butter-fingered backs and Read More...

Lazy day

Brett Larson — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:21:12 +0100

It's amazing how slowly time passes when you stay home, skip church, and leave the TV off.

Got up and read, had coffee, walked for an hour with Diane, visited with my brother, finished one book (The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo — pretty good), started another (Cry, the Beloved Country — haven't read it since college), made cappucinos, had lunch, entered all my diet data into the computer, cleaned the bathroom, took a hot bath, read Sports Illustrated (Leif's subscription — the article aboRead More...

Beating Barack to the bathroom

Brett Larson — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:34:49 +0100

After the Republican victory in Massachusetts the other day, everyone wants to portray it as a evidence of a collosal failure by the president. After a year in office, he's already being called the worst president since Jimmy Carter. Either he's done too much, done too little, tried to hard, not tried hard enough, pandered to the left, or pandered to the right.

The common denominator — left, right, center — is that Obama has failed in his first year and the public hates him and hiRead More...

Mille Lacs County Board was wrong

Brett Larson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:44:46 +0100

The county board on Tuesday denied a request from County Engineer Bruce Cochran (I guess he's called Public Works Director) to attend the national engineers conference in Fort Worth, Texas, at a cost of $1,400.

I've attended a fair number of conferences as a teacher and a journalist over the years, and I've learned this: Not only do you get a lot of information and education, but a good conference also provides some much needed inspiration to go home and do your job even better.

Folgers, fitday.com, my iPod, Community, Travis Bickle

Brett Larson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:37:24 +0100

Four things that give my life meaning, joy and stability in the face of evidence that America is going to be taken over once again by crazy people:

1. Folgers. I'm as much of a coffee snob as the next guy, and I drink a cup of good stuff every morning (We finally got a programmable coffee maker for Christmas. Why did it take us so long???) But I drink Folgers at work because it's what's there. Sometimes it tastes so good I wonder why we're all spending so much on Starbucks, Caribou, DRead More...

Community is back

Brett Larson — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:27:46 +0100

I'm so happy after watching another episode of Community.

If you, like Heather Havrilesky, TV critic for Salon.com, think Modern Family or any other new show is better than Community, I challenge you to a duel. No, never mind, you are not worthy. Community is the best show on TV. At least the best 1/2 hour comedy. Best in years, in fact.

Sorry about the strong opinions. Not very Minnesotan of me.

Clean up comments — or else

Brett Larson — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:38:12 +0100

I've said many times that the comment section on this site will not be allowed to continue as is if people refuse to follow a few simple principles.

I'm tired of people spreading rumors and allegations about private citizens who are not public figures, who are not mentioned in stories, and do not put themselves into the public eye. The next time it happens, I will change the settings so all posts need to be reviewed, which will mean posts will not appear immediately.

While you're Read More...

A remarkable speech

Brett Larson — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:23:18 +0100

I attended the Mille Lacs Band's State of the Band event this morning, and as I'm going through my recording to write the story for next week's paper, I'm struck by Chief Marge Anderson's speech.

I've attended several of these events, which have generally been characterized by positive spin on the community. There have been exceptions, but I don't think I've ever heard a speech that seemed more direct, honest, and from-the-heart than Marge's speech today. Most of it didn't feel like PR fiRead More...

Great stuff on the Internet and other ruminations

Brett Larson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:53:10 +0100

Every day I love the Internet a little more. Today it's because of a site called fitday.com. I signed up for a free membership, and I can type in the food I eat and the calories I burn and it tells me what all the various nutrients are that I'm eating, the percentage of carbs/fats/protein in my diet, how many calories I need to eat to lose X amount of weight etc.

I went looking for a website like that because I had my first physical in five years and the doc told me I could lose 2Read More...

Mark Twain on my iPod

Brett Larson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:25:24 +0100

This blog comes to you from the parking lot of the Milaca library using their Internet connection after reapplying for my driver's license while waiting for a 9 a.m. sentencing at the courthouse.

I got a new iPod nano for Christmas and I love it. It takes and shows videos, has a voice recorder, keeps track of my steps and uploads them to the Internet, uploads my calendar and contacts from my computer, etc. Plus the music and podcasts, which I love.

So I downloaded a collecRead More...

Thoughts on tribal sovereignty

Brett Larson — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:33:46 +0100

This blog post comes in response to a letter from a local resident who wants to remain anonymous. Because we allow anonymity on the Web but not in the paper, I decided to publish the letter here on my blog and respond to some of the questions and concerns raised.

Many of our readers are better versed in tribal history and tribal law than I am, and I welcome responses to the letter and my response. The letter is first, printed in italics. My response follows.

Good afternoonRead More...

The Vikings won again!

Brett Larson — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:45:16 +0100

My new strategy is to live in a fantasy world.

After all, my access to the Vikings is through colored dots on a flat screen in my living room. They are no different from House or Lost or Fox News or any other fictional TV show. They are not real. Therefore I simply pretend that whatever team is winning is the Vikings. This way I will prevent the heartache that has dogged Vikings fans since 1961.

Swans, football, MLB, intervention

Brett Larson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:51:30 +0100

1. I saw seven swans a swimming at Wild River State Park on Saturday. I was cross country skiing, and there was a little open river that flowed into the St. Croix. Two adult swans and five young (are they called cygnets). Beautiful sight.

2. The Vikings are terrible. Let's face it. Either Adrian Peterson can't run, or the O line can't block. Favre was in a different universe for a couple months, which carried them. Now he's back to earth and they're terrible. They almost gave up tRead More...

Tom Emmer's war on Christmas

Brett Larson — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:28:56 +0100

From the campaign newsletter of Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer: "Visited Bill and Lisa Coughlin in Burnsville for their holiday party."

Holiday party?! Say it ain't so, Tom! The secularists got you, too?

An old "war on Christmas" column

Brett Larson — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:39:54 +0100

Brett Larson - The real war on Christmas

I wrote this back in '05 when I was getting fed up with the whole "war on Christmas" thing. I'm getting fed up again, so I thought I'd post this. To listen toRead More...

Not safe to Wahkon Bay

Brett Larson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:45:30 +0100

When we first heard about it, a truck had gone through the ice on Wahkon Bay and the driver's organs were shutting down. Two different names were mentioned.

Eventually it turned out that someone had gone in the ice — just the front wheels — and the driver was perfectly fine.

At least they got the name right. One of them, anyway.

(Thanks to former Messenger editor Mike Kallok for the headline.)

Shameless teaser: Mille Lacs Band election news in this week's paper

Brett Larson — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:19:07 +0100

This week's Messenger has a story that will kick off the Mille Lacs Band's 2010 election cycle. I think it will make things very interesting.

It's possible that the news is out there already, but I can't be the one to spill it because I agreed to hold the release of the info until the paper comes out.

Vikings, why can't I quit you?

Brett Larson — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:11:08 +0100

One of the fun and painful parts of being a parent is reliving your own childhood through your children. Leif was close to tears at the Vikes' pathetic performance against the Cardinals last night (do they even have Cardinals in Arizona?).

I remembered being 12 and feeling the same way many times. There was one game in particular when the Vikes lost to the Chargers, who were terrible at the time. Probably 73 or 74.

I advised him not to put too much of his heart into pro spRead More...

Brett and Rob's sitcom

Brett Larson — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:51:31 +0100

If you've missed any episodes, I'll post them her. (The other two will be up later)

{youtubejw}hK7h4XZHvRM{/youtubejw}

We tried to make Episode 4 today, but the cinematographer failed to hit the record button on the camera. (For the record, I was the director of this episode.)

Blog entries from Brett Larson