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A Penny's thoughts, Duluth's 'horrible' film project,  Marilyn goes to Hollywood, and the Indiana Jones mystery.

Today's edition is shortened, due to illness. I will not be writing today. See you on Monday (hopefully).

Is the paralysis in the U.S. because of Congress' inability a recent addition to the American experience? An interesting article comes from WCCO  today on 

former congressman Tim Penny's opinion of the "fiscal cliff" in Washington. 

Not surprisingly, he's disgusted with Congress. But it's his comparison to the way things used to be that have us wondering whether "how it used to be" is how it was.

Time tends to block out trauma but the Congress Penny suggests he doesn't recognize compared to the one in which he served is the one he warned us about when he quit the institution.

When Rep. Penny decided he'd had enough of Congress

, he wasn't describing an institution that works. He described one that doesn't.

What may have changed is that many have come to realize what Penny determined in 1993. When Penny announced his reasons for departing, many Washington wags were aghast. If a congressman quits because he can't get things done, the venerable The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS wondered, what hope is there?

Now, when a congressman gives up and quits the institution, nobody wonders why.

2) BUT CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE NAME?

 to fund his film project and has chosen Duluth as its locale, the 

 reports. Vincent Gargiulo had never heard of Duluth before, and seems to think it's an OK place. But the name of his project is "Duluth is Horrible."

The newspaper says the filmmaker has received a donation of $1.46 from someone from Duluth with the message,  "Stay away from Duluth." That could give him an idea for another movie title.

Marilyn Hagerty, who got national attention with her Grand Forks Herald food 

, writes today that she's on Bravo's Top Chef this week.

started the comments about the original review rolling in again...

The University of Chicago admission department insists this isn't a hoax, but someone sent a package to Indiana Jones. In the movie series, Jones a professor of archaeology at the University of Chicago.

Currently, it's legal to buy pop, chips and cookies using food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But increasingly, public health experts concerned about obesity are raising questions about that policy, pitting them against longtime allies in the hunger prevention community. Today's Question: 

Should food stamp recipients be allowed to use their benefits to buy soda and junk food?

 - First hour: Friday roundtable on the fiscal cliff.

Third hour: BBC Documentary  - The Cost of Doing Time (Part of the BBC's 'Real America Project)

 (12-1 pm): Rabbi Harold Kushner. The best-selling author's speech was given this fall at the Basilica in Minneapolis about overcoming loss and disappointment, dealing with hard times, and his newest book, "The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person."

 - A conversation with Ray Kurzweil  about the nature of the human brain. Can we build a mind? Plus,  Christmas tree science, and actor Alan Alda.

Bob Collins

Author

A Penny's thoughts, Duluth's 'horrible' film project,  Marilyn goes to Hollywood, and the Indiana Jones mystery.


Is Congress really worse than ever? (4×8 – 12/14/12)

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