Guest poster Karl Bremer of Stillwater is a constituent of U.S. Rep Michele Bachmann.
When I wrote in November about Rep. Michele Bachmann collecting federal farm subsidies through her family’s limited partnership, some claimed that her “no” vote on the 2007 farm bill, which would extend farm subsidies through 2012, cleared her of any charges of […]

Good Monday afternoon and best post-Thanksgiving wishes. I’m back but off to a slow start. Luckily, my friend Pasquino is still using the paper to kindle his fire. After reading an op-ed in today’s Strib about phony diplomas, Pasquino, who must not have enjoyed his turkey, burst into flames over the idea that the invisible […]

Apologies. Fell behind on emails. Missed this reflection from my friend Pasquino on a piece that ran 1A in the Monday Strib.
Does this story make you feel safer? Or does it make you uncomfortable? How about this quote:
“People can’t find out that they are in the database, they can’t do anything if something happens to […]

My friend Pasquino likes to take pieces he reads, stand one key element on its head, slightly adjusting the piece so it makes a slightly different point. For example, here’s today’s Katherine Kersten column. (And before proceeding I should note that Kerstsen and I are former colleagues and friends. Deal with it.) And here’s Pasquino’s version […]

My friend Pasquino invites our attention to today’s Frank Rich column, the perusal of which leaves me with a headache, a heartache and a stomach ache. The headache is from trying to follow all the threads of corruption that Rich is weaving together. The heartache is the thought of the billions being misappropriated […]

My friend Pasquino stumbles on things, then muses on them, like:
I am not an evangelical.  What other people believe about an afterlife is their business.  What makes me think I know more than somebody else about heaven and hell or even if there are such places?  Nobody knows.  Be good and decent for the […]

Guest Poster Pasquino reads a story in the Times about a grout-sealant that is supposed to evaporate harmlessly, but sometimes sends people to the hospital instead. He remembers back to stories about Justice Samuel Alito’s belief that consumer safety laws are constitutionally suspect, and others about Bushy hostility to regulation generally, and he’s off to the laissez-faire races:
The […]

Hey guys,
I’m slowing down and starting to drown under the challenge of keeping fresh posts on Black Ink all by myself. One way to improve the situation is to recruit guest pieces. I have an old soccer buddy, who writes under the name of Pasquino. That’s the original Pasquino at right, one of the talking statues of Rome. […]