> Dear Bud Grant, Minnesota Vikings, and Minnesota Momentum:
>
> I’ve been a Vikings supporter and a fan of the NFL for almost my entire 40 years. I appreciate the benefits the team brings to the people, the state, and the businesses of its community. However, I also firmly believe that government has almost no appropriate role to play in financing or otherwise supporting the construction of a gathering place so specifically designed for one private enterprise. I’m annoyed by the actions taken to date for the Wild, Twins, and Gophers. I see it as a major public failing that we’ve built a new Gopher stadium and not a new **football** stadium to suit both the Gophers and Vikings.
>
> I’m aware that acting in accordance with my view may likely lead directly to a decision by the Vikings to move the franchise someplace where the local governments are willing to offer incentives. So be it. The fact is that the Twin Cities cannot support all their pro franchises indefinitely at a competitive dollar level when the supply of teams is in controlled scarcity by profitable league monopolies and other governments are willing to lure them away. To compete now for the Vikings simply means we’ll be called to compete again and again.
>
> I’m sure that my MN representative, Steve Simon, whom I’ve cc’d on this note, understands that fundamentally the Vikings are NOT an appropriate financing priority for scarce public funds. He also understands that many of his constituents will wrongly oust him from his seat if and when the Vikings move. In 2009, I have no choice but to let him know my thoughts, trust his judgement, and hope that he votes & lobbies for zero or minimal government support of yet another new pro sports stadium that the people of Minnesota don’t **need**.
>

In response to this.

> Dear Dan:
>
> As the Vikings push toward an NFC North title and the NFL playoffs, we are asking you to join our team to help secure a new home for Vikings football.
>
> While the State of Minnesota steps up to face current economic challenges, the Vikings stadium project will deliver thousands of jobs when an economic boost is desperately needed.
>
> It is our expectation that the Vikings will move forward in 2009 with a discussion at the State Legislature about resolving the stadium issue. With only 30 home games left until the Metrodome lease expires in 2011, we need to rally Vikings fans and supporters to ensure that our voices are heard as state leaders tackle this important issue.
>
> Please click here to join our team and be part of the stadium solution. Being part of Minnesota Momentum will keep you updated on important stadium developments and let you know how you can help resolve this issue.
>
> Please visit MinnesotaMomentum.com to find out more. Thank you for your time and consideration, and thank you for joining our team.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Bud Grant
> Vikings Hall of Fame Coach
> Co-Chair, Minnesota Momentum
>
> Larry Spooner
> Vikings Fan
> Co-Chair, Minnesota Momentum

>

Had a fun night out last night with my cousin Jessie and her Cambridge-studying friend Megan. Met up at the Tate Modern, walked the Millenium Bridge, past “feed the birds square” in front of St Paul’s, through Smithfield Market, dinner at [St John](http://www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk/), on to Upper St for cocktails at GU and a final beer at [The Hope & Anchor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_and_Anchor,_Islington), accompanied by the last few songs of a set by [Big Num](http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=23149511). Great way to celebrate being back in London!

Crooked Little Vein – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I’m headed home from Russia in the morning. I’m thinking about this: Second World at Wikipedia

The term “Second World” is a phrase that was used to describe the Communist states within the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. Along with “First World” and “Third World”, the term has been used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. The term has largely fallen out of use since the end of the Cold War. The other two ‘worlds’ are still widely talked about.

Too bad “second world” is out of use, because it is apt here. Stages of my experience in Russia were thus: 1) Wow, this place is really scary. 2) Wow, this place is scary but the people are ok. 3) I’m getting used to this. 4) Look at that, they’re rebuilding stuff here and there. 5) I like it here, but not sure I could give up my American standard of living to live here.

so…

Two o’clock A.M., 02:00, is not a human time for flights to depart. But this is the scheduled departure of Aeroflot 220 from Istanbul to Moscow. So I go to dinner with Emre and Sam, then spend a couple hours in my room to shower and pack up.

Istanbul airport requires a security check to enter the building. Show passport and ticket, remove coat, belt, and watch, then gather yourself.

Aeroflot has chosen the scrum method of queueing for the flight. One desk is marked business class, two economy, and one “excess baggage.” It turns out that this is where passengers are sent to pay $10 per kilo over their allowance. Seems steep for a kilo, but I don’t know what the allowance is.

There are is no person or apparatus to organize the queue, and the prevailing attitude is very much “move up where you can.” I generally aim for the third line, closest to excess baggage. This is the wrong choice. A group of 8 to 15 men, I can never tell exactly who is with them and who is not, are crowded around the desk and although I see passports and tickets and boarding passes going around the line never moves for the first 30 minutes of waiting. I want to scream “multi-checkout single-queue” at the top of my retail consulting lungs.

I spend my time in the scrum watching people. The group of men hogging the desk appear surly. You could tell me they are mobsters and I’d nod “of course, I can tell.” But you could also tell me they’re simply a group of construction company employees and I’d take that too. Beyond that gang, there is a wide mix from well-heeled-stylish to casual. But not one who I can say looks American or British by their stuff or appearance. I am the only english-speaking person here. I feel a little out of place.

When I present my passport and ticket, the agent calls over the special passport-examining man, who reviews my visa for her. I am checked in, and I even get an aisle seat. Then I show my passport for the third time tonight to the passport control man in his booth, who stamps me out of Turkey.

There is Starbucks, but closed. There is a bar, but a beer is 11 turkish and I only have 10 left, and I’m not willing to risk my credit card being denied yet again. (That’s another story.) I go sit near the gate for a few minutes before joining the queue.

This queue is yet another security check. Show your passport (fourth time tonight) and boarding pass. Remove jacket, watch, belt. Scan everything. Turn laptop on & off to show its battery is not a bomb. (Can’t they read my sticker, “this is not a bomb”? No they can’t. I haven’t heard more than 5 words of English in an hour.)

Next I show my passport (5th time) to a lady at a desk controlling entrance to the waiting area for gate 216. Seems the prior security check was for 214-217. I get in and sit down. Realize that I needed to go to the bathroom before that check. Unwilling to repeat a passport check, I decide I’ll pee on the plane.

I clearly made a big mistake by not utilizing the duty-free shop. I must be in a less-than-ten-percent minority without one of those bags.

Boarding is called all at once, another scrum. At the top of the jetway they scan boarding passes, and special-passport-examining-man gives mine the once-over again. Six times between taxi and plane they have to see my passport?

Even though I’m the only one who needs it, all the announcements are conducted in Russian then English. I’m grateful. I fall asleep on the plane for a couple hours, thank goodness. Awake to breakfast service, which is a meat and cheese plate with some bread and a coffee cup. But I’m never offered any liquid. Must have slept through that.

We land. I set my watch forward to Moscow time, 6 AM. Getting off the plane is quite orderly considering. Passport control is quick. My bag is one of the first on the conveyer after a brief wait. Customs believe that I have nothing to declare, and wave me right through.

Arrivals lounge. Sam and Emre told me about this but I am not prepared. “Follow the signs for Terminal 1.”

As soon as I pass out of the limo waiting area, every bystander is a taxi driver aggressively peddling a ride. And there are a lot of bystanders. I go sit down just to get away from them. Remember I’m supposed to look for the transit to Terminal 1. Can’t find a sign anywhere.

I’m starting to feel a bit freaked out. No sign of transit to Terminal 1, no “i” for friendly information, the only people who talk to me are taxi drivers who want “very reasonable” or in one case $20 for a ride to Terminal 1. I walk outside, a taxi driver pestering me on the way.

Finally I find a sign “Transit Bus, Terminal 1.” I stand for a few minutes. The sign is pinkish-yellow. There are no similarly colored buses. Every so often a city bus comes by. Every so often a van comes by. These both seem to require a fare, which I was told transit would not.

I go upstairs to departures to look around. No other signs of transit. Security guards don’t know about transit or don’t know enough
English to tell me. A taxi offers to take me to Terminal 1 for 80 Euros. I go back downstairs.

A large coach bus stops, like a charter tour bus in America. I ask if this is to Terminal 1 but think I hear “no.” I later figure out this was it. Next I hop on to one of the small vans at the direction of a taxi driver. After I’m on, I spend a terrified 2 minutes wondering if it is really going to take me to Terminal 1. I begin to realize that it will, and that I’ve accidentally avoided the 5 dollar fare. 5 minutes later we arrive at Terminal 1 and I’m happy to pay.

Right now I’m pretty much hating Moscow, as the 20 minutes I’ve spent here have been my most uncomfortable in years.

The airport is a dump.

I go in to the airport through security. I queue for a second security behind which are the gates for check-in. I’m refused, my flight doesn’t have a check-in desk yet. I go back out to the cafe, sit down with a double-espresso in a plastic cup. Good coffee, but the cup really kills the experience.

Fire up the laptop. There is wifi, and what looks like a login page in Russian. But I can’t guess what the field names are so I give up on communication.

Departures board shows Novosibirsk checking in at desks 23 & 24. Try again, but they still won’t let me in.

So this is when I meet Alex, waiting for security to check in. Soon enough I get past security, wait in a short line to check in, and I have an aisle seat and an English-speaking friend in the gate area.

Alex and I share cigarettes and chat over a beer for about an hour. He’s a tall 27-year-old sales rep for a Swedish industrial equipment company, headed home from a week of training in Moscow. We chat about lots of stuff. Easy and nice to have a guide.

On the plane there is one more discomfort. I’m in an aisle, 11C. Man next to me in middle seat asks me to change with his wife who’s in the middle seat in front of us. I refuse and spend the next 10 minutes feeling ugly toward him for asking me to trade down. Thankfully they move to an empty row and I’ve got an aisle seat with an empty middle.

So here I am. 1pm Moscow time, I think it is 4pm Novosibirsk time, which means I’ll be there in an hour. Wish me luck.

But if you sense, as I do, that greater danger lies ahead, and that our divisions and recent history have combined to make the American polity and constitutional order increasingly vulnerable, then the calculus of risk changes. Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution. Close-up in this election campaign, Obama is unlikely. From a distance, he is necessary. At a time when America’s estrangement from the world risks tipping into dangerous imbalance, when a country at war with lethal enemies is also increasingly at war with itself, when humankind’s spiritual yearnings veer between an excess of certainty and an inability to believe anything at all, and when sectarian and racial divides seem as intractable as ever, a man who is a bridge between these worlds may be indispensable.

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