Bob CollinsI’m out sick today so this will be the only posting of the day. Your mission: Keep the discussion so intelligent and vibrant, that people will come back over and over again all day. I have faith in you. Don’t let me down.
1) “We did it a long time before this guy,” Shirley Phelps-Roper told the Kansas City Star today. She apparently is jealous of the publicity that the preacher in Florida is getting. You know the one; the one who went all Brett Favre yesterday on the question of whether he’d burn the Quran.
Phelps-Roper is with the Westboro Baptists Church, the people who picket the funerals of soldiers because, she thinks it’s God’s way of punishing the U.S. because of its tolerance of gays and lesbians. She says her group burned the Quran two years ago and nobody paid any attention.
“They’ll browbeat him and he’ll back down at the last minute,” she said of the Florida preacher. “He’s an apologist. He doesn’t serve God.”
(h/t: Ken Paulman)
2) The big story of the day around these parts is Bill Kling’s decision to leave MPR next year. He’s on with Gary Eichten at noon.
“I would say public media nationally is being killed with kindness,” he told MPR’s Euan Kerr. “It’s so loved by the audiences that gather around it, that they don’t demand better performance.”
Here’s the press release via Poynter.
Comments are open with the usual caveats. And you know what they are. I’ll be shopping for an appropriate sheet cake.
3) This should be a good pick-me-up: Guess how the world will end. To celebrate — if that’s the right word — its 30th anniversary, Discover Magazine considers 30 likely ways the world will end. It doesn’t say — exactly — when the world will end. Of course, everyone in Minnesota knows it will come with 30 seconds left in a Super Bowl, in which the Vikings are tied, but are about to kick the winning field goal. After last night, I’m guessing we’re good for at least another 16 months.
4) This is the hot viral video right now. A guy running for county treasurer in Stark County, Ohio has the high beams on.
5) Now we know. There are no rules to prohibit Green Bay Packers fans from picking up litter along Minnesota highways. Besides, they’ll need something to keep their mind off things come playoff time.
TODAY’S QUESTION
This weekend marks the ninth anniversary of the terror attacks of September 2001. How has 9/11 changed your view of the world?
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) – First hour: This week, two German teens were given long prison sentences for fatally beating a man who tried to stop the teens from bullying kids. As American students head back to their classrooms this week, some parents and educators are calling for tougher policies to prevent the spread of bully behavior.
Second hour: President Obama will address questions on the nation’s economic recovery in a press conference from the White House, his first since May. L
Midday (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) – First hour: To preview the 9/11 anniversary, Louise Richardson of the University of St. Andrews answers questions about terrorists around the globe.
Second hour: MPR President Bill Kling answers questions from the radio and online audience.
Science Friday (1-3 p.m.) – First hour: When is it time for a man to get screened for prostate cancer? Are doctors too quick to use invasive techniques and surgery?
Second hour: Fighting malaria.
All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) – Euan Kerr has more on Bill Kling’s decision to leave MPR.
Tom Scheck follows the gubernatorial debate on education issues today — funding, the achievement gap, teacher quality and merit pay.
