Daily Meandering

• Hey, have you heard about this Northwest Airlines strike thing? Learn more here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Besides all that, every news organization in the Cities has a strike countdown clock, and you know what that means...when it hits zero, up will become down, left will become right, and evolution will rapidly reverse until we all revert back to amoebas.
• Peace activist Cindy Sheehan left so-called "Camp Casey," where she has lead a protest outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch, in order to be with her ailing mother. The protests go on, however, and so does the war. Four more soldiers are dead.
• Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch - in court earlier this week arguing for expanded powers over the state's nonprofit sector - has been told by the judge to go sit in the naughty chair until next year's governor's race is over.
• Dr. Thandiwe Peebles, embattled superintendant of Minneapolis Public Schools, just can't get a break. She was chastised earlier this summer by the school board, and now there are allegations she used district staff for such tasks as grooming her dog, and working on projects for U of M coursework. As usual, there shenanigans are involved, and now Peebles' peeps are speaking up for her.
• In answer to the recent Randy Kelly fundraiser that featured Republicans Teflon Tim and Norm Coleman as special guests (it raked in a cool $100,000, by the way), rumors are flying that former (and probably future...unfortunately) Democratic presidential contender John Kerry will come to St. Paul to gladhand for mayoral challenger Chris Coleman. Why? Why!?
• Six of the 12 mayoral candidates in Minneapolis - including incumbent R.T. Rybak and No. 1 challenger Peter McLaughlin - debated the causes and cures of homelessness at Catholic Charities. Nothing wrong with that, really, other than the fact that there are 12 candidates for mayor. Minneapolis...St. Paul's dysfunctional big brother.
• Nick Coleman to Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus: You suck. And he's mostly right.
• For those who know, don't forget to come to the party this weekend. For those who don't, we'll be live-blogging tomorrow night...