Al Franken, Minneapolis, Panhandling, City Pages

LIFE IMITATES 'ART'

Did Air America's Totebags Inspire Panhandler?





Need a good laugh today?

From the Minneapolis City Pages, this one's just too funny to pass up:

(Molly Priesmeyer, City Pages) The SW corner of Stevens and 46th Street is a prime location for the city's homeless: It's a high-traffic area in the heart of south Minneapolis where hundreds of vehicles either coming off or heading onto 35W travel in a given afternoon.

So a panhandler standing on the curb with a homemade sign isn't such an unusual sight on a sunny Sunday, unless, on closer inspection, you realize it's simply a dude in a camouflage hunter's jacket and expensive Birkenstocks pimping KTNF AM 950, the home of Air America, by posing as homeless.

The guy's sign, which for the most part was illegible, read something about being "down and out...," and then had "AM 950" scrawled across its lower-half in red marker. Despite his attempt to gather attention by looking like a panhandler, KTNF AM 950 station manager Janet Robert says the station isn't paying anyone to beg for listeners. "He's so excited about the station that he's doing that on his own," Robert says. "Can you imagine someone being so passionate about something that they'd do that?" If it's anything like being so hungry you have no other choice, then yes, we can imagine it.

Could the Minneapolis Mystery Panhandler have been inspired by Air America's own begging campaign? A flashback:

In what appears to be just short of outright panhandling, a desperate Air America Radio is now begging listeners for cash donations.

From a mass email pitch sent Wednesday afternoon, Air America supporters were taken to a webpage where a direct solicitation is made.

Resembling an online PBS or NPR pledge drive, the site offered paltry "benefits" for cash "gifts" to the liberal talk network. Is Air America unintentionally a not-for-profit enterprise?

For $50, they'll send three "official" bumper stickers, while $100 gets a "stylish" tote bag thrown in. The sucker who has everything might choose the $250 version, including the above and an on-air thanks from one of Air America's talk hosts.

Here's a great idea for KTNF AM 950: by parting with a few totebags and bumper- stickers, why not help this guy?

Please don't tell us he'll first need to collect $100 in dimes and quarters!

Better yet, perhaps Franken Executive Producer Billy ($625,000 per annum) Kimball can donate some of his corporate lunch money to help this fellow. We believe Al ($2 million base salary) Franken could spare a few dollars, as well.

Enjoy those champagne lunches, guys!

One tip for the panhandler, however: don't let anyone from Air America follow you to the shelter. They could be looking for more taxpayer-funded nonprofit grants to "borrow".

Air America signs turn up in fascinating places, such as the above example, from a recent New York City pro-illegal immigration rally.

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Scoundrels: David A Lunde, WLIB/ pro-illegal demonstration: mac.laclan