Backing Becks Dont Knock The Soccer Stars Talents

David Beckham spent six years in the U.S. with the LA Galaxy before returning to Europe earlier this year. The most unforgiving criticism in sport is directed at any athlete who fans believe is celebrated too excessively above his true talent level -- especially those stars who are gloried because they're such pretty people. To wit: As David Beckham retires, so much attention is ...

Protect rights of women girls with disabilities

Angela was 11 years old when a court in Australia ordered that her uterus be removed. Why? Because Angela has Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder resulting in severe intellectual and physical impairments, and epilepsy. A judge decided that it was in her "best interests" to have a hysterectomy. The decision to start a family is a deeply personal one, and one that these days is often ...

Minnesota adoptees lack equal access to personal history

Two seemingly unrelated stories in the news - marriage equality and Angelina Jolie’s preventive mastectomies - have a connection for some Minnesotans. Many members of state’s adoption community have sought for decades to regain the right of adult adoptees to have access to their original birth certificates. Our attempts to restore this right, which was taken away in the 1940s under ...

Angelina Jolie and knowing our genetic risks

Last week, I decided I wanted a Reuben sandwich, and I was missing sauerkraut. For my Reubens, not just any sauerkraut will do. So I got in my car, strapped myself in, drove to the co-op that carries it and paid an ungodly amount for The Best Sauerkraut In The World. I got home, laid out my ingredients, and started drooling at the prospect of my delicious, most-craved Reuben. And then I ...

Minnesota Legislatures 2013 legacy Why

Mark Dayton and DFL leaders are wasting little time to extol their "accomplishments" of this year’s legislative session. We, not surprisingly, have a different take and a lot of questions. Why did legislators raise permanent taxes by more than $2 billion to resolve a $627 million short-term deficit? They could have adopted a balanced approach by going through the budget line by ...