Used to be a lot of that stuff in the Twin Cities area. Spent a lot of hours in Eagan at the intersection of Yankee Doodle and Pilot Knob. (Is the Eyetalian Pie Shoppe still there?)

What’s in Roseville now? LIndeys still there?

How about Water’s Edge?

With all due respect to all commenters here, I just have to chuckle over the thinness of liberal skins. Maybe 85 or 90 percent of cultural/fun sites I visit are liberally oriented. If I got into a tizzy over every one of them, I’d spend life in a permanent state of hyperventilation. You deal with it and enjoy the non-political stuff — or at least I do. I guess not everyone does.

James -

I hope you’re kidding about this…. I realize having an open forum raises a lot of issues, and after reading through the Letterman thread, I quickly saw why you’d rather not want to have to deal with the whole mess.

But it’s fairly rare (IMO) that you delve into anything overly controversial in the Bleat -but when you do I enjoy reading your viewpoint every bit as much as the day to day stuff normally posted, whether or not I agree with it. As it happens, I usually do agree with your views, and I think that’s because you eloquently state what appears (to me anyway) to be common sense, and I’ve yet to see you write anything that could even be remotely interpreted as fanatical. I really hate to use this word, but your viewpoint IS _balanced_.

I don’t often read the comments, as it’s your writing I come here for, and, no disrespect intended to anyone – I’m not really interested in what others have to say about topics you’ve chosen. When I do look through the comments, I just skip over anything that looks like it might irritate me.

You’ve been at this a long time. I’d hate to see you change your format now – you never wavered before comments were enabled, why do so now? I say write what you want to write about, and if you feel it’s going to raise hackles, lock comments on the thread. I realize doing that also presents its own set of problems.

Maybe wind the clock back and turn comments off completely.

Just my 2 cents, but probably worth less than that.

So my check is printed but it’s in the mail?

I thinkt he general merriment level here is high enough to keep me coming back. If I were terribly annoyed by your topics that occasionally veer into politics, I am quite capable of skipping over the individual item.

Bob

WHY? You pay for this site. You write about whatever strikes your fancy at the time. Yes, I tend to adhere to your political views, but it’s not like we’re reading this at the Strib. This is YOUR website. Write what you want to write. People’s choice, and all that.

Like Jen, I love the screeds myself, but I also like the tone of the comments here, so it’s probably just as well.

So you’re letting them censor you. On your own website. That you pay for.

OK, fine. Whatever. As has been noted previously, it’s your website.

On the other hand, might there be something to be gained by NOT giving in to the thought police.

Just sayin’.

I am with the others. Why change? Isn’t this the most appropriate of your five or six venues?

You are already very careful to salt your commentary with caveats and qualifiers and a healthy dose of humility. That ought to be enough. Anyone who can’t at least see your side is an ideologue and not worth your time.

For the record, I find your pov refreshing, and your arguments sensible. Shows what a wacko *I* am as well.

Come and see the violence inherent in the system!

I’m saving your post for coffee in the morning. Now I can hardly wait. Surely I must agree with you in entirety if you irritated the thin skins. Most excellent!

Eh, if our host wants to keep the Bleat Bleatier and the Screedblog Screedier, it’s no skin off my back. It’s easy enough to click a link and all that; just be sure and let us know when a Screed goes up.

And even with the occasional screed, this site’s comments are still infinitely nicer in general than those of pretty much any all-political site you could name.

Careful there Mister – those vacuum tubes get hot. Handle. With. Care.

And thanks for making me think about the old TV Tube testers that used to be available in the local drug stores in the 70s. You remember, take your suspect tube in, plug it in to the big box with the multitude of sockets (eerily similar in power & size to the Univac above…), and determine if your tube was bad so you could buy a new one off the shelf.

I especially preferred the the testers at Thrifty’s (’cause you could get an ice cream cone while you were there…).

I’ll hoover up my free content in whatever form delights and motivates the host, thank you.

Brian Lutz Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

Come and see the violence inherent in the system!

Help! Help! I’m being repressed!

I’m with HT, Tim, and Gina. Why let humorless libs define what it is you’ll put in your Bleat? It’s your gig-your dime.

Univac! I think there’s one of these in my dearhusband’s collection upstairs. (There seems to be one of everything else. How many 5.5″ floppy drives does he really need to save?)

What I find frustrating about Lileksian descents into politics is that they tend to (1) be in the pursuit of very low-hanging fruit, like this Letterman thing, and/or (2) be based more on strawmen and caricatures than anything the other side is actually saying. This is funny when applied to old pop culture, but tends to rankle when it seems to ignore that there is another side to an issue that might have some valid points. It might be funny/understandable here, too, if James sometimes shared more nuanced/thoughtful stuff about politics, but since all he ever really generates in this realm is this kinda periodic screediness, It just doesn’t come off as well.
Second, give it a rest with the “it’s his blog! shut up and go back to Russia if you don’t like it!” stuff. Well, yes, it is his blog, but presumably he didn’t open up comments with the expectation that he would only receive fawning praise. One must not be more royalist than the king, Jen & HT.

James. I can’t imagine how you do it, and will read whatever you write wherever you write it. Do with us humble followers as you will. You have the thanks of a faithful reader.

I’m with Irritable Bear(sounds like a ’50s euphemism for PMS, or something–”You’ll have to excuse Doris tonight; she’s ‘with irritable bear’) on this. Either way, it won’t make me not enjoy your work. And thanks for that work.
The situation reminds me a bit of why I was so bummed when Richard Schickel stopped reviewing films for TIME: in both cases, there is a great writer with so much experience in common w/me(Schickel was another Milwaukee Kraut, like me, & our host’s age/taste in most cultural areas tends to be eerily similar to mine) that, as noted by others, even when I disagree I enjoy reading what the writer has to say(I also admired Wm. F. Buckley, Jr. from childhood sessions w/”Firing Line” on, even though I didn’t share his views).
If anything, it’s some of the comments that, as they say in the swamps, “make my t**s heavy”–guess I just need to start skimming more(although that always makes me worry I’ve missed some new bit of Bleatnik cleverness).

This newcomer votes from IrritableBear’s corner (den?). Blog on, Screed on, Reminisce on, all of it.

For my own benefit, though, may I make this humble request: Pull the plug on the whole site, or perhaps put a dirty word in all the URLs so that my Company’s filters won’t let any of it through. (they already sift out the YouTube links and some other graphics during certain hours)

Thattaway, maybe I won’t be fired for spending hours every day, struggling to keep up with the Bleat, reading all the Matchbooks, Regrettable food, and my newest addiction, reading every comment and adding my own.

For what it’s worth, commenters here seem a pretty amicable bunch, more tolerable and tolerant than just about any other public forum I’ve encountered (instead of working like I should be).

Here’s some government efficiency. The Air Force spent six weeks of my one-year electronics course teaching me all about vacuum tubes and I never saw one in my four years in the service. Everything was transistors. Came in handy, though, when I was home on leave and had to fix my dad’s old Grundig.

James, I see no reason for you to suppress your point of view just because of the uncivil antics of some drive-by commenters. There’s two or three of the regular faces (I won’t name names, but veteran Bleatniks should be able to figure out who I refer to) who toss in snarky political comments and expressions of antireligious bigotry in response to a Bleat about Natalie’s choir practice or Jasper barking at squirrels.

I also find it revealing just how the opposition argued their points. You made the (should be non-controversial) assertion that jokes about older men messing with underage girls should be beyond the pale, even if the parents of said underage girls are your political adversaries. Most of the disagreement was name-calling (”blinkered, biased, one-sided partisan crap”, “Since when did this turn in to the Sarah Palin defense blog populated by bitter Coleman supporters?”) or fallacies (you didn’t object to something Rush Limbaugh allegedly said in 1997 so that makes you a HYPOCRITE), but there was a distinct strain of “Sarah Palin DESERVES IT cause she’s…you know, ICKY! and has CHRISTER CONSERVATIVE COOTIES!” which I think only proves your point about her effect on the Left.

(Funny, I can remember a time, oh, ’bout a year ago, when dissent was the highest form of patriotism.)

All that said, it’s your website, and you can put what you write on whichever HTML page you want, and if all you ever write about from here on out is Jasper barking at squirrels, I’ll still be reading it.

Jay Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:10 am

Second, give it a rest with the “it’s his blog! shut up and go back to Russia if you don’t like it!” stuff.

Hey, that’s Nazi Russia. Don’t think I haven’t learned my history!

Jay,

You say he only goes after low-hanging fruit. I see it as showing forbearance and not piping up unless something truly heinous happens.

How much nuance did you expect when commenting on Letterman’s offense?

Tim

I would prefer you not be intimidated by the usual crowd who picks up its political talking points off the DNC fax machine every morning and then spends the rest of the day bombarding various media outlets with its screeds. Having said that, I think it speaks well of your site development that you now may consider an almost entirely political “room” in your house. Well done! This site has come a long way in a few years. Keep up the good work!

I nominate you to supplant the moribund Keillor at the next available opportunity!

I’ve been reading James for years…and I want to be able to do so in the future. I’ve been so loyal because James always manages to illuminate the everyday world in funny, sometimes touching ways. However. It does bother me to be screeded at in this forum. If I want to read political blogs, I can find many of all different leanings in countless places. I come here to be entertained, to laugh at my foibles that the world also shares, and to see how someone else’s day-to-day life unfolds. I LOVE this bleat…please don’t change the premise behind it!

Premise? There’s a premise here?

Bob

You can Bleat and Screed wherever it suits you. I will want to read it. Whatever you do, don’t let THEM stifle your opinions. I find your arguments well-reasoned and interesting. I look forward to reading your take on various topics, including politics. Some people can’t handle opinions other than their own. That’s their problem, not yours.