Katherine Kersten
Katherine Kersten started writing for the StarTribune earlier this year. She was added to the roster of Strib columnists to "balance out" what is perceived to be a liberal bias at the paper. Given the way other mainstream papers in this country look today, it's probably an apt description. Kersten's writing style is leaden with references to faith and the tragedies of today that in her view are a direct result of the '60s counterculture movements.
Today's column really got me. It's about a student protest of the Iraq war, how it was really all a Socialist Plot! Yes, only Capitalists are allowed to criticize this war. Kersten can't resist a shot at all the cool kids from her youth:
For many kids, it seems to have been a relatively risk-free adventure. School district officials say that students who had a note from their parents can make up the work they missed. While some parents apparently threatened "grounding," others no doubt experienced a vicarious tingle at seeing their offspring repeat the antics of their own heyday in the '60s and '70s.
I have to give Kersten her props; the use of "antics" and "heyday" is masterful, almost capable of hiding the seething rage and envy that I suspect lurks just beneath the surface: Those wacky Vietnam War protesters, with their hijinks and shenanigans, always leaving me behind to run the Geometry Club meetings. Plus, they turned out to be right about the war, and that made me so mad! But listen, my Pretty, Chairman Mao was using you then and he's using you now, too! (Insert Wicked Witch of the West laugh...)
8:31:34 PM 
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