Needle Stick! The Latex Gloves Come Off...

Apparently Some Duplications are OK
(Children's Hospitals),
But Not Others (Medical Schools)?

`When I use a word,'
Humpty Dumpty said,
in rather a scornful tone,
`it means just what I choose it to mean
-- neither more nor less.'

The potential new medical school, a joint effort between St. Thomas and Allina, has been the subject of earlier posts. See for example:

Earlier Thoughts of BigU Administration Concerning
Possibility of St. Thomas/Allina Medical School

The frustration level of BigU's administration at not being consulted on the matter seems to be surfacing.

(Mr. Bonzo thanks a friend for calling this post to his attention.)

From the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal:

U official questions UST medical school

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

June 29, 2007

by Lauren Wilbert

The University of St. Thomas and Allina Hospitals & Clinics' idea to jointly build a new medical school in the Twin Cities is generating some concern in the local health care community, particularly within the University of Minnesota's medical program.

St. Thomas and Allina's proposed school would produce primary-care physicians in family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics, areas where doctors are projected to be in increasingly short supply. The organizations this week hired Pittsburgh-based Tripp Umbach to oversee their summer-long feasibility study of the new school. Tripp Umbach is a consulting firm with a Minneapolis office that has led studies for several startup medical schools nationwide.

Some health care leaders, including Dr. Frank Cerra, who leads the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center are skeptical that producing more graduates would solve the looming shortage.

Instead of building a new school, he said, the health care community should focus on solving issues of reimbursement for primary-care doctors and how to pull other medical practitioners, such as nurses and pharmacists, into the mix.

"Just increasing the capacity to train physicians isn't really an answer to the problem," Cerra said. "There is a work force issue, yes. But we need to wrestle with the cost of medical education and the debt incurred."

Cerra said he would rather see the U's hospital work with Allina's Abbott Northwestern Hospital, for example, to coordinate their primary care residencies. A new school might only duplicate programs that already exist. [Apparently this argument does not apply to children's hospitals.]

Mary Brainerd, CEO of Bloomington-based HealthPartners, agreed with Cerra that other options should be studied besides training more doctors.

She is skeptical that a primary care physician shortage is due to too few students entering that field. It could be that the aging population is simply creating a need for more doctors who can be a "quarterback for the care you get," Brainerd said.

"I'm not sure what that quarterback role will look like," she said. "Maybe it's more nurse practitioners working with specialists. With the shortages, we'll have to get creative."

But Tom Rochon, St. Thomas' executive vice president of academic affairs who is a co-leader of the feasibility study, disagreed. "It's very clear that our region needs more doctors, and it needs more doctors in family practice," he said.

The demand for more physicians will be one of the main issues addressed by the feasibility study. If it finds the school wouldn't help the community, it won't be built, he said.

The study also will look into the cost of opening a new school, recruiting faculty and students and space needs of a new school.

"One of the challenges we'll face is [determining], 'How do we make sure we're filling this gap we've identified and not just producing more researchers?' " Rochon said. The school, instead, would aim to put more practicing physicians in the Twin Cities and rural Minnesota.

"We don't think we're competing against or detracting from the [programs at] the University of Minnesota," he added. "Hospitals accept residents from multiple medical schools.

Rochon acknowledged that the partnership with Allina makes for a sensitive situation with the U of M, which sends medical students to Allina hospitals for training.

But the new school and partnership with St. Thomas would not mean fewer residency spots at Allina for U of M students, said Dr. Penny Wheeler, Allina's chief clinical officer.

For its latest clinical training program, university medical school graduates filled only 45 of Allina's 142 primary care residency positions. As talks of a new school go forward, Allina might be able to create additional spots, said Allina spokesman David Kanihan.

Wheeler is working to schedule meetings with various officials at the U of M to talk about how the new school would affect their long-standing relationship, and Allina CEO Dick Pettingill has met with Cerra at least twice so far, she said.

"[The proposed school] is meant to be complementary, not competitive," Wheeler said.

Still, some from the university feel left out of the planning process.

"We've offered to help Allina and St. Thomas in any way possible," Cerra said. "We have 150 years of experience with schools, and so far, they haven't asked for that information." [What is this about? See above. Looks like Dr. Cerra has met with Allina CEO "at least twice so far."]

St. Thomas and Allina's focus on primary care comes as some Minnesota schools are showing a drop in students going into that field. Figures from the U of M's annual residency match program, which places medical students in practice areas, show that internal medicine and family practice have the highest participation.

But those numbers have dropped while class sizes have stayed relatively flat. In 2005, 50 students entered an internal medicine residency and 40 went into family practice. By 2007, those numbers dropped to 39 students in internal medicine and 35 students in family practice.

As Mr. Spock would say: "Interesting."

Bonzo

Open Your Mouth and Say Ah… Or Why Won’t OurGovernor TeePaw Do the Right Thing and Give BigU What It Wants?

Mr. B. has previously pointed out the disconnect between authorizing new bioscience buildings for the U (a blank check, so to speak) and an explanation of where the money is going to come from to fill the buildings with people and equipment. These issues have not been addressed in the latest piece by the Star-Tribune's excellent legislative reporter, Lori Sturdevant.

See:

"If You Build It, Grants Will Come? Or, Could Someone at BigU Please Be Honest and Responsible About Expansion of Biomedical Research?"

Perhaps we should worry more about a way to lower tuition for doctors who plan to do family practice in Minnesota so that they can afford to do this? Agitation on the part of BigU's med school administration indicates that this may be a pressing problem, particularly if St. Thomas/Allina get into the mix. BigU is well aware that there may be a limit to the amount of funding available from the state coffers for the education of future health care providers.

See:

"BigU's MedSchoolDean Comments on St. Thomas/Allina Feasibility Study for New Medical School"

and

"University of St. Thomas to Establish New Med School?

as well as

"Blanket Email from Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Kudos and Questions for Proposed Medical School"


From the StarTribune:

A moment left unseized
The wait continues for a gubernatorial push for the U of M bioscience plan.

By Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune

Published: June 03, 2007

Twenty years later, DFLer Rudy Perpich circled the globe, hunting for jobs in industries ranging from chopsticks manufacturing to supercomputing. Then came Republican Arne Carlson, who knocked himself out to keep Northwest Airlines afloat.

So as the clock wound down on the 2007 session, I figured that Gov. Tim Pawlenty would soon start talking up the University of Minnesota's request for fast-track bonding authority for four new bioscience research buildings. Or that legislators would start buzzing about calls from the governor's office, urging a kind look at the university's plan for hiring scores of new faculty.

The university's request was, after all, the only viable, affordable, remotely plausible plan in sight for keeping up with the competition, and snagging a share of the industry that's exploding in research hotspots around the country.

But the clock wound down. A public appeal from Pawlenty to the Legislature never came. If one was made privately, it escaped detection.

When asked May 1 about the university's bid for a separate bonding path for biosciences, Pawlenty's response wasn't negative. It just lacked oomph. "That's a good idea," he said. "Either this year or next year, it should go ahead."

The governor wasn't alone in playing it cool. The Senate was with the U on this request for the second year running. But it was a different story in the House. There, where turf jealousies, regional parochialism and raw partisanship are the order of any given day, several senior DFL members weren't interested in giving the university permission for more than one building at a time. Allowing the Legislature a chance to say no before a building's bonds were issued was proposed. No deal.

"Their view was, 'Come to us every two years and let us take care of you,' " said university lobbyist Donna Peterson.

There are two problems with that view. One: It isn't the depth of state commitment that Academic Health Center Dean Frank Cerra needs to turn top faculty heads. Cerra says that recruiting research superstars takes three to five years to consummate. He needs to be able to promise today that a brand-new building will be waiting in 2012 or 2014.

And two, it pins Minnesota's best hope for a desirable new industry on what has become an unreliable process.

University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks says he'll be back next session -- or, better still, in a special session -- to try again. Platou says he'll try to keep a major donor on the hook. Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher says she'll try to "bring greater awareness to legislators about the competitive pressures involved here."

They are a potent threesome, but they can only go so far.

"It's going to take the governor's leadership to make this happen, "Bruininks said. Providing leadership to develop new industries -- that's what governors do, isn't it?

Mr. B. believes that there are a number of logical disconnects in the above analysis.

Two Smart Senators from Minnesota? (The Other One Would not be Senator BlowDry)

Mr. B. has previously posted on the possibility that Peter Agre will run for Senate in Minnesota. The current issue of Science has an article on this matter. Hopefully Peter will get some traction, but this will be a very difficult task.

From: Science 25 May 2007

Nobelist Eyes Minnesota Senate Seat

Eliot Marshall

New experiment. Chemist Peter Agre may test his popularity in one of the hottest U.S. races.

Peter Agre wants to do something no Nobelist has done before: get elected to the U.S. Senate. After a colleague disclosed it in a newspaper op-ed column last week, the 2003 chemistry laureate confirmed that he is considering a run for the Senate seat now held by Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman.

Agre, 58, plans to take leave this summer from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he is a professor of cell biology and vice chancellor for science and technology. He aims to test his welcome among Democrats in Minnesota, his childhood home, which he left 3 decades ago to pursue a career on the U.S. East Coast. With no campaign kitty, little public visibility, and no political experience, he concedes that the odds of winning a Democratic primary, much less the general election in November 2008, are long. But he says that Minnesota has promoted "some very unusual candidates over the years," including another student at his high school, Jesse Ventura, the professional wrestler who was elected governor.

The news that Agre is weighing a run for the Senate came as a surprise to science policy leaders, some of whom were pleased. "That he would even consider this is an extraordinary public service, for which he should be applauded," said Neal Lane, former director of the National Science Foundation and science adviser to President Bill Clinton. "It's pretty clear … that we're in dire need of serious leadership by people who think that facts are important, that evidence should be considered." Lewis Branscomb, professor emeritus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, thinks that Agre's Nobel credentials would enable him to "fight for rational, fact-based policy decisions so essential to the survival of democracy." Former Republican House Science Committee chair Robert Walker says, "It's always positive to have scientists involved," adding that many are uncomfortable with the compromises required in public life.

Agre drew some media attention several years ago when he helped his friend Thomas Butler, a microbiologist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, fight charges that he had violated biohazard and accounting regulations (Science, 19 March 2004, p. 1743). Butler was convicted and sent to prison--a "disgrace," says Agre, who figures that he spent a large part of his Nobel Prize money on Butler's legal defense. Agre also endorsed a 2004 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists accusing the Bush Administration of manipulating U.S. science for political aims. His political views are left of center, although within the mainstream for Minnesota; for example, he favors universal health insurance, strong action to control carbon emissions, and more public aid for poor women seeking abortions.

Political strategists say that the Minnesota Senate race could cost candidates more than $30 million. And two well-heeled candidates are already seeking the Democratic nomination: political comic Al Franken and a popular Minneapolis attorney, Michael Ciresi. Agre says he will spend the summer with Minnesota voters to see whether his own candidacy "has traction or not."

Hopefully things will heat up soon on this soon, otherwise it is going to be too late. Ciao, Bonzo

Pigs in Spaaace
Or, there is nothing new under the sun at NASA


Everyone and their grandmother has picked up on this astonishing development but Mr. Bonzo cannot help calling further attention to the matter - because it is important. From a Boston tv station:

June 1, 2007: Climate Change? Try Regime Change

In an astounding interview with NPR, NASA’s chief, Michael Griffin seemed to question the very significance of dealing at all with global warming.

“I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with,” Griffin said.

Say again, sir?

Many of the nation’s leading scientists excoriated Griffin. “His remarks show that he is either totally clueless or a deep, anti-global warming idealogue,” said Jerry Mahlman, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Others called for Griffin to resign.

President Bush, meanwhile, inching out of his own characteristic denial, took baby steps when urgent, meaningful strides are called for. While avoiding any specific, mandatory guidelines, Bush suggested a vague “long-term global goal” for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and called on the other major industrial nations to join in negotiations that would hopefully conclude in some type of agreement by the end of next year.

Keep fiddling, Nero.

Many years ago, when Mr. B. was young and charming, he had a first hand opportunity to view the goings on at NASA. Sorry, but this is not the way to spend the people's money.

Ciao,

Bonzo

Blanket Email from Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
Kudos and Questions for Proposed Medical School

This blog has previously posted on the possible establishment of a new medical school in the Twin Cities by the University of St. Thomas and Allina.

The following blanket email has been sent to BigU AHC faculty. Mr. Bonzo posts it without comment at this time. An earlier blanket email by MedSchoolDean at BigU has also been posted.

Frank B. Cerra	Fri, May 25, 2007 at 12:05 PM
Reply-To: "Frank B. Cerra" To: ALL-AHC-ALL@oris.ahc.umn.edu

Dear Colleague -

May is a remarkably productive month in the Academic Health Center. By the end of last week, we graduated 224 new physicians, 134 new nurses, a record class of 157 new PharmDs, 138 new dentists, 91 new veterinarians, and 187 public health graduates prepared to improve the health of our communities.

All of you deserve a strong pat on the back for the work you've done in preparing this next generation of more than 900 health professionals to care for Minnesotans. This has been our commitment since the University was founded 154 years ago.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been reflecting on that historic commitment as colleagues in the community discuss the feasibility of starting a new medical school. The stated rationale for this fledgling partnership between Allina and the University of St. Thomas is the impending shortage of primary care physicians to care for our aging population.

Much of our work at the University is designed to respond to workforce needs in various health professions. Whether it is a need for pharmacists in rural communities, advanced practice nurses to manage chronic care for patients, training all health professionals to move care upstream into prevention, or modeling new cost effective ways to achieve health, our schools have been responsive with innovative programs and expansions of existing programs to meet workforce needs of Minnesota.

As one who has managed the complexities of this Academic Health Center for more than a decade, I do have some questions that will need to get into the dialogue about this new school.

--Is another medical school truly the solution to the need for access to healthcare for aging Minnesotans?
--Are there other models of care that are more fiscally responsible for the future care of chronic conditions?
--Given the available capacity in our state's training programs, would it be more prudent for the community to work with us to find ways to attract students into health careers who are committed to primary care?

As the state's only public research university, we stand ready to help the community as they pursue the feasibility of starting a new school.

Frank B. Cerra, M.D.
Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
McKnight Presidential Leadership Chair

A public dialog and discussion on this matter is certainly in order. Perhaps some competition from St. Thomas would be good for Bigu? If this dialog does occur, Mr. B. would certainly like to contribute to the conversation.

On this Memorial Day weekend: memento mori.

Bonzo

Gonzo Justice:
Former US Attorney Heffelfinger Publicly Reacts to Monica Goodling Testimony and Kyle Sampson Email

The StarTribune reports today on local effects of the Justice Department's latest disgraceful behavior. Excerpts are posted below. Please see the full article if you are interested as the situation is more complex than the casual reader might wish to know about.

[Addendum: The Desert Beacon does a good job in laying out this situation in all its ugliness:
"Vote fraud more important than rape? Gonzales Department of Justice replaced attorney trying to reduce reservation crime"]


Heffelfinger slams Justice Department

The former U.S. attorney has grown more open in his anger over the fired-attorneys controversy. Thursday that reached a peak.

By Eric Black, Star Tribune

Last update: May 24, 2007 – 11:18 PM

In a blistering attack that won a standing ovation from more than 200 members of the Hennepin County Bar Association, former U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger on Thursday defended his work on Indian issues and accused Justice Department officials of firing people without knowing the most basic information about their qualifications.

Heffelfinger, who says he had no idea anyone in Washington was thinking of firing him when he resigned his position as U.S. attorney in February 2006, has gradually become more open about his outrage over the controversy around the firing of U.S. attorneys as his name has been more publicly linked to it.

In remarks to the Bar Association in Minneapolis, he reached a new peak, saying among other things that "something is fundamentally broken within the Department of Justice."

And he read aloud from an e-mail, written by Kyle Sampson, then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, to other Justice Department officials under pressure to explain how particular U.S. attorneys had become candidates for dismissal.

Sampson suggested the attorneys on the list -- including Heffelfinger -- "had no federal prosecution experience when they took the job."

This elicited a burst of shocked laughter from the audience, many of whom knew Heffelfinger had been a Hennepin County prosecutor, a federal prosecutor, and had served a previous term as U.S. attorney for Minnesota under the first President Bush before the second President Bush appointed him in 2001.

In testimony in Washington on Wednesday, former Justice Department official Monica Goodling said that the complaints she had heard about Heffelfinger were that he spent too much time on American Indian issues. Heffelfinger defended his commitment to issues of Indian law and then called the claim that he was too interested in the issue "outrageous and shameful." That brought the biggest ovation of his luncheon address.

And, he told reporters after the luncheon speech, he also briefed Gonzales on his continuing plans and commitment to the issue, and Gonzales made no complaints about any of it.

Minnesota tribal officials Thursday rejected the idea that Heffelfinger spent too much time on Indian issues.

A general housecleaning is called for at Justice. The old saying about a fish rotting from the head seems appropriate.

Bonzo

Peter Agre to Explore Running for US Senate

Would it hurt to have a second smart senator from Minnesota?

From Today's Star-Tribune

Chemist knows a Senate run takes a lot more than smarts

Is there room for brilliance in the United States Senate?

By Doug Grow, Star Tribune

May 21, 2007 – 8:57 PM

Though a graduate of Minneapolis schools -- Roosevelt High and Augsburg College -- it's been years since he's actually called Minnesota home. Secondly, though he has a nice job -- the physician is vice chancellor for science and technology at Duke University's School of Medicine -- he doesn't have access to the amount of money needed to play contemporary politics.

So why's he considering a campaign?

"We live in desperate times," said Agre, citing problems ranging from the health care crisis to the lack of support for public education to the ever-increasing mess in the Middle East.

Agre, 58, doesn't think his address problem is a big one. After all, Al Franken, a DFL Senate candidate, also hasn't had a Minnesota residence until recently.

"I've always been a Minnesotan," Agre said. "Your paper recently had a story with the headline, 'Bob Dylan, Still One of Us.' That's me." He added that though he spent his career at Johns Hopkins University before moving to Duke, he's always made frequent trips "home."

He has deep family roots here. He's Lutheran. He paddles in the Boundary Waters. He skis in the Mora Vasaloppet. He eats hotdish.

That's a lot of Minnesota in a résumé.

The money issue is tougher.

He will spend considerable time in Minnesota in July to find out if he can attract the sort of financial support that would make a Senate race possible.

"I have to be realistic," he said. "This is not about tilting at windmills."

Agre was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2003. (He and his colleagues discovered microscopic channels involved in the exchange of water among cells.)

At the time, he vowed that he would become more of a public spokesman for science. He has made good on his pledge, traveling all over the world to speak to science organizations. He's also traveled back to Roosevelt High, where, a couple of years ago, he passed his Nobel medal around a room filled with kids who were amazed at the humility of the man who talked with, not down to, them.

But there is this simple fact: There are no Nobel winners in the Senate. That's because the Senate has become a club for the wealthy or for anyone with a lifelong driving ambition to be a senator.

Let's see:

Show me the money!

In this world, one thing counts, in the bank, large amounts.

or is it:

Money is the root of all evil.

In a state that elected Paul Wellstone anything is possible. If Ciresi and Franken are really interested in retiring Senator BlowDry perhaps they should throw their support and dollars to Peter Agre. The thought of Senator BlowDry staying in office because Al Franken ran is too terrible to contemplate.

Ciao, Bonzo

Comic Relief

"He has done nothing wrong," Bush said in an impassioned defense of his longtime friend and adviser [Attorney General Alberto Gonzales] during a news conference at his Texas ranch.

The sainted Mr. Gonzales has previously graced the pages of the Periodic Table in the post "One Can Only Marvel..."

When Mr. B. suggested to Mrs. B. that BoyGeorge was a chowderhead, she replied that this could not possibly be the case since that would give chowder a bad name.

Of course Wolfowitz recently announced his resignation from the World Bank despite Bush's early support in Wolfie's effort to brazen it out. Mr. B. hopes that the same fate awaits Attorney General Gonzales. Don't worry about Gonzo being out of a job, however. Just think of the money he will be able to make as a Halliburton attorney or in some similar position.

And so it goes. Bonzo

Health Care Myths and Realities

The Journal of the American Medical Association has an interesting opinion piece from which Mr. B. has extracted the following:

What Cannot Be Said on Television About Health Care

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD

JAMA. 2007;297:2131-2133.

There are 3 phrases that should and can no longer be said about the US health care system without qualification, embarrassment, criticism, or even denunciation: "The United States has the best health care system in the world," "Health care is special," and "New is better."

"Best Health Care System in the World"

The United States has the most expensive system, by far. In 2005 health care cost more than $6000 per person or in excess of 16% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The nearest rival, Switzerland, spends $4077 per person per year, or 11.5% of its GDP (in purchasing power parity). Norway spends $3966 (9.7% of GDP); Germany, $3043 (10.6% of GDP); and South Korea, a mere $1149 (8.2% of GDP). However, Americans are increasingly aware that all of this money is not buying very much. Life expectancy in the United States is 78 years, ranking 45th in the world, well behind Switzerland, Norway, Germany, and even Greece, Bosnia, and Jordan. The US infant mortality rate is 6.37 per 1000 live births, higher than almost all other developed countries, as well as Cuba. Even for white individuals, the numbers are not world class—5.7 infant deaths per 1000 live births—more than double the rate in Singapore, Sweden, and Japan. Even at the individual hospital level, Americans are realizing the care they receive is not of the highest quality. The idea put forth in the Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human that 100 000 Americans die each year from medication errors in the hospital has taken hold in the public consciousness as emblematic of the problems with the quality of health care.

Within the last few years, the tipping point has been passed. Something has radically changed when the New Yorker claims the system is a mess and when UnitedHealthcare, a corporate pillar of the status quo, opens an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal by boldly stating that:

The health system isn't healthy. There's no denying it. A system that was designed to make you feel better often just makes things worse.

The US health care system is considered a dysfunctional mess. Conventional wisdom has been turned on its head. If a politician declares that the United States has the best health care system in the world today, he or she looks clueless rather than patriotic or authoritative.

"Health Care Is Special"

To many, the specialness of health care meant that cost should not be a consideration in care. Ethical physicians could and should not consider money in deciding what they should do for sick patients. Patients were to receive whatever services they needed, regardless of its cost. Reasoning based on cost has been strenuously resisted; it violated the Hippocratic Oath, was associated with rationing, and derided as putting a price on life, akin to the economist who knew the price of everything but the value of nothing. Indeed, many physicians were willing to lie to get patients what they needed from insurance companies that were trying to hold costs down.

Today, saying that health care is so special that its cost is irrelevant serves to discredit the source. A New York Times reporter learned this lesson the hard way when he praised a study that claimed by "virtually any commonly cited value of a year of life, we found that if medical care accounts for about half the [6.97 year] gain in life expectancy [since 1960] then the increased spending has, on average, been worth it." In response, the reporter "received about 500 e-mail responses from readers, and the most common reaction was a version of a simple question: ‘Why do Americans spend so much more than folks in most other developed countries while getting worse results?’"

"New Is Better"

Americans are enamored with technology, especially health technology. The US Food and Drug Administration has been urged to use surrogate markers to approve drugs and medical devices faster so they can help sick patients. Not only is the United States an early adopter of new health care technologies, many physicians are early "proliferators" of technological innovations.

Increasingly, Americans are beginning to be skeptical about whether new health care technologies are better. The tipping point probably came with the withdrawal of rofecoxib from the US market. Today, the list of drugs and technologies for which new might not be better (and may be even worse) has expanded rapidly: postmenopausal hormone therapy, bare-metal stents, megadose antioxidants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for adolescents, Swan-Ganz catheters, gabapentin for bipolar disorder, erythropoietin for anemia, and the list goes on.

[Addendum, 4:50 pm: To which list can today be added Avandia, which was hoped to be a breakthrough medication for treating type II diabetes.]

The change in language suggests Americans now recognize that the system has deep structural problems. While this recognition is no guarantee of change, it does constitute a critical precondition for comprehensive reform of the system. Reform cannot occur without acknowledging that there is a problem. The next step is for the public to see a solution that they think offers a realistic chance of making the system better.

Now here is language that one would not see in JAMA back in the good old days of rants about the evils of socialized medicine...

Mr. B.

Will Peter Agre Run for Senator in Minnesota?

Mr. B. has written previously about Peter’s wonderful letter to the Strib about his early life experiences, including having attended Roosevelt High School and Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Peter is a Nobel prize winning scientist. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors, and writes:

The land of $9 million

Anyone can run for public office, right? Not quite. A closer look at Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race shows how our fractured, money-soaked system can effectively eliminate most citizens — even a Nobel Prize winner — regardless of résumés.

By Jonathan Turley

For those who believe that American democracy is at a crisis point, there is no more vivid example than Minnesota, where comedian Al Franken has launched a full-throated effort to unseat Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. It is fast-food politics at its artery-clogging worst: instant gratification and no nutritional value. Yet, Franken has both personal wealth and a host of wealthy donors at his call — pushing out virtually all competitors.

While Minnesota has long prided itself on favoring underdogs, the day may have passed when an idea-rich, cash-poor candidate can secure a major office. The threshold barriers to new voices entering our political process were evident during a recent conversation that I had with Nobel Prize winner Peter Agre.

A Minnesota native, Agre revealed his interest in running but said he was told by state politicos that, in opposing Franken, he is a day late and a dollar short — well, $9 million to be specific. That was the amount that he would need to be "credible." Despite a lack of money, Agre still intends to run as either a Democrat or independent.

In the 2000 Senate race in Minnesota, lawyer Mike Ceresi (who is also running in 2008) put up $5 million of his own money in his losing bid. To win, a candidate needs buzz and bucks, and Franken — who has raised $1.4 million as mere seed money — has an endless supply of both. He thrilled bored voters by calling Coleman "one of the administration's leading butt boys."

Conversely, Agre does not have much to put on the table beyond a Nobel Prize for chemistry and global work on behalf of academic freedom. In today's politics, that gives him about the same odds as Albert Schweitzer running against Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Nonetheless, there is something fundamentally wrong when a man such as Agre is considered political roadkill. Even in a state that once embraced underdog candidates such as professional wrestler Jesse Ventura (who became governor) and college professor Paul Wellstone (the late U.S. senator), money now confines politics to the ranks of rich personalities and robotic functionaries.

Except for his lack of money, Agre would appear the perfect candidate. Besides instantly doubling the IQ of the Senate, Agre would be the first Nobel Prize winner for science to be elected to Congress. While the Senate has been Nobel-free for more than six decades, he would join three prior senators and one vice president (the president of the Senate) who received Nobel Peace Prizes.

Born in Minnesota and a former Eagle Scout to boot, Agre seems to have walked off the set of A Prairie Home Companion: milking cows in the summer and eating lutefisk in the winter — a vile codfish soaked in lye that only a snow-crazed Norwegian can swallow with success.

Part of a large farming and working-class family, Agre went to Theodore Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis (with another student named James Janos — later known as Jesse Ventura). His father was the chairman of the chemistry department at St. Olaf College. Growing up, Linus Pauling — two-time Nobel laureate for chemistry and peace — stayed at their home, unaware that the gangly kid running around would inherit his Nobel Prize 49 years later.

Agre's announcement would create a wild contrast for Minnesota voters. On one side, there is Franken, whose contributions to humanity include such books as Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right and Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot.

On the other side is Agre, who has quietly served medicine and human rights for decades around the world. His published works include scientific breakthroughs credited for having "ushered in a golden age of biochemical, physiological and genetic studies at the molecular level."

Agre could present an equally sharp contrast with Coleman on issues such as stem cells. Coleman has often discussed his tragic loss of two children to a rare genetic disorder as shaping his opposition to most stem cell research. Agre's loss of his 3-month-old daughter, Lydia, to cerebral palsy helped shape his views in favor of such research.

Of course, the very notion of a Nobel laureate joining the less-than-cerebral ranks of the U.S. Senate is something too much to hope for. It would be a scene reminiscent of when John F. Kennedy welcomed Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 and observed, "Never has there been so much collective intelligence in this room, since Jefferson dined here alone."

Mr. B. looks forward to Peter Agre running for Senate in Minnesota. He needs to lose the Mensa label, though. This will not be hard once people get to know him a little better.

The BigU Regents Selection Process is Partisan Mr. Bonzo is Shocked, Shocked...

Mr. Bonzo has written earlier about the partisan election process for new members of the Board of Regents (BOR). Today the Daily has an article about the matter, below are selected excerpts. See the full article for amplification.


April 18, 2007

An Experiment Gone Partisan Although the board of regents is not political, the new regent selection process is that and then some.

At the Capitol, everything's political. Even things that shouldn't be.

As Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty weighed in on the process for the first time, the Capitol erupted in controversy over what lawmakers found to be a newly politicized process.

Ultimately, this new method raised questions about lawmakers' roles in regent selection and whether they have the University's best interests in mind or their own political ideologies.

Outgoing regents included Peter Bell, a Republican in Pawlenty's administration and chairman of the Metropolitan Council.

"The regent selection process has politicized (the board) to a degree that could be problematic," Bell said.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, criticized Pawlenty for not taking the authority granted to him. He never met with any of the candidates, which meant legislators didn't give much consideration to his selections.

The governor could have had a better chance of getting his selected candidates - including Bell and outgoing Regent Cynthia Lesher, who lost reappointment to former DFL Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson - through the process had he personally interviewed them, Kahn said.

Kahn said the governor should have sat down with legislative leaders to negotiate the "regents' slate," compromising to allow both Johnson and Bell appointments to the board.

After a speech on campus Monday, Pawlenty said the regent selection process "was designed to be better, but it really was a disappointment."

"Without casting any aspersions on this year's finalists or appointees, I would say we have to do better at getting higher-quality regents for the University of Minnesota," he said. "This year's process doesn't look like it was any better in that regard than the last (one)."

Mr. Bonzo would also like to correct an apparent error. Regent Metzen, formerly the chair of the Board of Regents is listed as being from Congressional District 4.

The Daily should know better as they have previously published:

August 10, 2005

Regent lives out of range

David Metzen has lived outside his district since the 2002 redistricting.

By Matt Graham

wo years after promising to move to the district he represents, a member of the Board of Regents still lives in his old residence.

David Metzen, the former board chairman serving his second consecutive term for the 4th Congressional District, currently lives a few blocks outside his district.

Metzen was first elected to represent the 4th Congressional District in 1997. But the 2002 redistricting left him on the outside looking in when his term expired in 2003.

Unable to win legislative support in the 2nd District, where his home is now, Metzen promised to move to a new home if he was re-elected to represent the 4th District.

Metzen has said he would be willing to step down from his post if that's what is called for.

But Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, of legislative District 54, which is within the 4th Congressional District, said such a move would be a little drastic.

"It's not like this is scandalous," [sic] he said.

[Our standards are apparently not that high here in BigState, at least for political appointments like the BOR.]

Marty said he and other legislators would like to see Metzen make a serious attempt to move into the 4th District, but asking him to step down would be too much.

[Two years have passed - how long is this going to go on? Or are some pigs more equal than other pigs?]

Mark Rotenberg, general counsel for the University, said the University is not legally liable for anything relating to David Metzen's living status.

"It's not a problem for the University, it's a problem that arises from the Legislature's selection of individuals, none of whom are currently (residing) in the 4th Congressional District," Rotenberg said.

Given his current address, it appears that he still lives in Congressional District 2:

Metzen, David
273 Salem Church Rd
Sunfish Lake, MN 55118

Members of Congress Representing ZIP code 55118-4742

A search was done for members of Congress representing residents of the following address:

273 SALEM CHURCH RD. SUNFISH LAKE, MN 55118-4742

Residents of the 55118-4742 ZIP code are represented in Congress by 2 Senators and 1 Representative.

Senator Norm Coleman (R- MN)
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D- MN)
Representative John Kline (R - 02)

In addition to his service on the BOR, Regent Metzen is also a motivational speaker who lists his regent service as one of his qualifications for giving lectures (at $2000 - $5000 a pop) on such topics as:

Leaders are Learners
Change or Die
Building a Learning Organization
How Great Boards Work
It’s All About People
You Can’t Win Without Teamwork
Inspiring and Motivating Your Staff
Barriers to Change
Moving out of your Comfort Zone

Sounds like Regent Metzen may want to move out of his comfort zone so that we can all learn how great boards work. After all, building a learning organization is all about people and you can't win without teamwork. Inpiring and motivating your staff involves removing barriers to change.

A shocked and awed Bonzo

A New Home on the Range for BigU ?

Now that the University of Minnesota, Rochester, has been such a stunning success, a state legislator wants to establish yet another U. (YAU)

The Daily reports:

April 4, 2007

Range campus possible

A state representative hopes to forge a graduate mining program on the Iron Range.

By Karlee Weinmann

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, wants to establish a postsecondary presence on northern Minnesota's Iron Range ... Rukavina said he wants to see greater use of the area's mining resources for programs focusing on graduate study in areas of mining, metallurgical engineering and bioenergy, among others.

"I want to utilize the resources we have up here," he said. "It's really about the wealth we have - natural resource-based wealth."

[Uh-huh, that's why Rudy Perpich, in the IRRB days of yesteryear, built a now defunct five million dollar chopstick factory on the Range (Hibbing) that went belly up.]

In a bill set for presentation this legislative session, Rukavina proposes a viability study to assess the demand of students and employers for higher education in the area, which extends from Grand Rapids to Ely. The study would require $300,000 in state funding, and completion is slated for Jan. 15 of next year. [Well at least initially that's less than the chopstick factory but you can be sure that it will grow, just like Topsy.]

Rukavina said plans for an Iron Range campus would follow a course similar to the University's Rochester campus. Ideally, there would be a centralized facility, as in Rochester, with others joining to ease on-site research.

[If the Republicans in Southern Minnesota can have their U, then I guess the Dems on the Range should get one too - fair is fair, you roll my log and I'll roll yours, nicht wahr ?]

"I envision the MnSCU system cooperating with the University of Minnesota and maybe even some other private higher education facilities," he said.

[I'll just bet that if the spigot can be turned on at the legislature, the administrators will all gather together at the river of money that runs through Morrill Hall and sing Kumbaya while the checks are cut.]

Already-established research programs would provide unparalleled research opportunities, Rukavina said. Current research in the region includes projects at the Tower-Soudan mine and the Duluth campus's Natural Resources Research Institute mineral analysis laboratory in Coleraine. The Soudan Underground Laboratory, housed in the mine, falls within the borders of Rukavina's congressional district. [What a coincidence..]

In 1980, physics professor Marvin Marshak began conducting physics experiments in the laboratory. Since then, the facility has become more comprehensive and renowned. Marshak said Rukavina has been a longtime supporter of his research initiatives, but he is unsure of the feasibility of Rukavina's plans.

[Whoops! How ungrateful of Professor M. Doesn't he know how this game is played ?]

"I think it is true that mining engineering programs in U.S. universities have been shutting down or downsizing," he said. "A lot of this has to do with a lack of student interest." The University's civil engineering department formerly contained a mineral engineering group which disbanded several years ago. Marshak attributed the program's demise to low enrollment stemming from heightened interest in emerging computer-based engineering fields.

[And as if that weren't enough, professor M issues the ultimate insult to former miners at home on the Range. As an aside, when Mr. B. worked at the pilot plant in the Mining - with real engineers - we didn't sit in our offices either.]

"Engineers today do computer stuff; they sit in nice offices," Marshak said. "Mining is messy and dirty and hard physical work even [sic] for the engineers." [Ouch, that hurt! Professor M speaks here like an elitist physics professor. Could this be?]

Marvelous Marvin is the new czar for undergraduate research at BigU - I’m sure he knows that with BigU’s limited resources, we don’t need yet another U. (YAU) If we don't need General College, we certainly don't need YAU.

An amazed Mr. Bonzo writes from BigU where the search for greatness on a shoestring becomes daily more bizarre and our few remaining M&Ms are being gobbled up by hungry administrators and politicians.

New Regents Selected

Mr. B. has previously reported on the power struggle at the state legislature over the appointment of new members of the Board of Regents (BOR).

The committee that vetted the candidates to the BOR sent them up to the full body without any recommendations, even though Governor Pawlenty had picked four. The legislature did not rubber stamp the governor's recommendations. To no one's surprise Dean Johnson, a former Democratic Senate Majority Leader, was one of the new Regents. A pretty good regent - with whom Mr. B. does not agree on most things - Peter Bell, was not renewed. Mr. Bell has Republican ties which were probably the kiss of death.

Link to article in the Daily, Link to article in the Pioneer Press:

Johnson named U regent as 2 sitting members ousted
BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER

Pioneer Press

The Legislature on Thursday elected four new regents to lead the University of Minnesota for the next six years. Lawmakers cast aside two incumbent regents — whom Gov. Tim Pawlenty had recommended — and promoted former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson.

In a joint evening session of the House and Senate, lawmakers elected:

• Johnson, a Willmar Democrat, who lost his role as majority leader when he was defeated by a Republican in his re-election bid last fall.

• Venora Hung, recommended by Pawlenty, a former investment administrator at Cargill and current U law student.

• University of Minnesota master's degree student Maureen Cisneros, a former U admissions counselor, as the student at-large regent.

• Linda Cohen, also recommended by Pawlenty, a psychologist and Wayzata school board chairwoman.

Johnson made a fuss about keeping the tuition increases down at BigU during his campaign for the regent's seat. Although the BOR is supposed to be non-political, the way it usually goes is that when the dems are in control (they are now) the table gets tilted their way, when the repubs are in control they get the advantage. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.


The U has also thrown in the towel on the tuition reciprocity fight and things will stay as they are for another year. Obviously, this was a problem for the administration. First the state of Wisconsin does make up the delta to the state of Minnesota. The problem lies in the U trying to extract the money from the state once it crosses the border. Also, the obvious question is starting to be asked: "Why does the U cost so much more than Madison, when Madison is higher on the academic totem pole?"


Mr. B. is going on a Spring break trip courtesy of Mrs. B. who has managed to extract money from the mad publisher for her book. We are going some place moderately warm and sunny (an island) with basically zero student spring breakers. Sun and sand and lots of good books.

Ciao,

Bonzo

Dustup at the ColdState Legislature Over Regent Appointments

There is an odd power struggle going on over at the the legislature over appointments to the Board of Regents at BigU. The situation is described in today's Daily:

Eleven candidates chosen by the Regent Candidate Advisory Council in January were interviewed by the committee in hopes of securing one of the open positions.

Among these candidates were the four chosen by Governor Pawlenty in the new route to appointing regents. Prior to this year, the RCAC's recommendations went straight to the Legislature.

But now, many members of both the House and Senate are uncomfortable with the Governor's new influence.

"I never supported the change," said Tom Rukavina, DFL Virginia, "Why give authority to the governor that's not explicit in the constitution?"

There are also signs that tuition is finally going to be a front-burner issue this year.

"Tuition is the number one issue," said former Sentate DFL Majority Leader Dean Johnson. "It must be both competitive and accessible."

"Being a regent is one of the highest honors a citizen has," said Peter Bell who is seeking re-appointment to the board.

Bell said his goals include, increasing the number of federal research grants, community outreach, improving graduate rates [sic] and managing tuition hikes.

Mr B. looks forward to continuing conversations, to use currently popular administrative crapspeak, at the legislature. But he does not look forward to another predicted huge snowfall in ColdState.

Michelle Bachmann Steps In It (again)...

Mr. B. has mentioned this illustrious politician once before.

Her latest whacko antics are outlined in the Strib today:

Bachmann backs down from Iraq comments

After talking of an Iranian plan to split Iraq, she now says it's hard to know what to expect.

By Eric Black, Star Tribune

Last update: February 24, 2007 – 12:51 AM

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed two weeks ago to know of an Iranian plan for the partition of Iraq in which Iran would control half the country and set it up as "a terrorist safe haven zone" and a staging area for attacks around the Middle East and on the United States.

But on Friday, after her claim was highlighted on the Star Tribune's Big Question weblog, Bachmann issued a new statement asserting her earlier comments had been "misconstrued." The second statement in effect retracted the first in several important respects.

University of Minnesota political scientist Kathryn Pearson, who specializes in Congress, said Bachmann's original statement was "extremely irresponsible."Members of Congress are privy to intelligence that the rest of the public isn't. So when a member of Congress says something of such significance, the first assumption is that she knows something that the public doesn't. So on that basis, people are going to take it seriously.

"Either this is top secret information that she's leaking, which is a problem. Or she's presenting her thoughts on a very serious topic as if they were established fact, and that's a problem for other reasons," Pearson said.

Washington University Prof. Steve Smith, another Congress watcher who lives in the Sixth District, said Bachmann's first statement "was a pretty strong claim to make. If she can't back it up she should be held accountable."

Smith speculated the original statement was drawn from some ideas circulating in "the neoconservative network in which she circulates."

Maybe Ms. Bachmann should keep her mouth shut and her ears open for a little while?

Expecting more irrationality soon, I remain your servant,

Bonzo

Wherein OurLeader Shows the First Hint of Feeling the Student's Pain

Mr Bonzo generally approves of Lori Sturdevant who is thoughtful and does her homework vis-a-vis ColdState politics. She seems a little too trusting of BigU's administration, but it is a very difficult situation to interpret and she has Mr. B.'s sympathy in trying to figure out who is on first. Mr. B. was pleasantly surprised that OurLeader is starting to realize that students should not be the ones paying for the transformation of BigU into GreatBigU.

Last update: February 11, 2007 – 12:22 AM

Columnist: The courage to do what needs to be done?

House DFLers are learning that without higher taxes, public services will stay pinched.

By Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune

At 85 members strong (out of a possible 134), the new Minnesota House DFL majority is big. It remains to be seen whether it's brave.

"Fiscal prudence" (read no tax increase) has been the new majority's official watchword, so far. But plenty of nudges in a bolder direction have been coming at them in the three weeks since Gov. Tim Pawlenty released his skinny "no-new-taxes" budget proposal for 2008-09.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, asked a good question. If the university needs more than the Republican governor proposes to allocate, "Where would you like us to get the money?"

[Ms. Hortman appears to be a sharp cookie and has previously appeared in the Periodic Table.]

Bruininks cleared his throat, carefully allowed that he was about to venture his own opinion rather than an officially sanctioned view, and said: "If it means, long term, that we have to put more and more of the cost of higher education on the backs of students, if it means long term that we've got to experience this kind of [financial] roller-coaster ride we've had for the past four years, you can raise my taxes."

There! He said it! And this is a very difficult thing for someone to say in the current political environment and in this state. Remember what happened to Walter Mondale when he proposed new taxes? Immediately such a statement conjures up all the old sound bites: "No new taxes!" "Tax and spend liberals !" etc., etc. ad nauseum.

It should also be noted that Mr. Pawlenty is jockeying for a vice-presidential [sic] slot on the Republican ticket and would make the perfect second banana. Young (relatively), attractive and a good family man complete with a "no new taxes" escutcheon that he hopes to keep unblemished.

You can't lose them all - Mr. B.