Chronicling the depravities of the State.
My favorite Internet meme has hit the streets of Minneapolis. When I was out and about Sunday evening I encountered the following pictured graffiti on the west staircase on the north side of the 3rd Street bridge:
While I don’t approve of graffiti I must say this is one of the few times I’ve seen graffiti used to express something of value (usually I only see people spray painting their names or the name of their gang on street signs).
Days of our Trailers has the skinny on the Brady Campaign being handed their asses. Brady Campaign president Dennis Henigan was challenged to a debate by Joe Walsh, a representative in Illinois. Instead of gracefully accepting the challenge Dennis decided it would be better if he made stupid demands like holding the Debate in Washington DC. Mr. Walsh returned with this skillfully crafted retort [PDF]:
Your desire to hold the debate in Washington D.C. is a perfect example of the fundamental problem with Washington D.C.
Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists, are too obsessed with each other, the Washington insiders. In your November 23rd press release, you yourself emphasized how critical it is that “[my] colleagues in House and Senate, and their staffs, as well as the national press corps” attend our debate.
Who cares?
The last time I checked I represent the folks of Illinois 8th Congressional District, not Congressional staff, Washington lobbyists, or the national press corps. I was sent here to Washington to fight for me constituents and their rights and interests. Why would I care what Washington insiders have to say?
Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned speculates Henigan’s desire to hold the debate in Washington could be due to the lack of Brady Campaign money to send their president to Illinois. I like this theory if for not other reason than the Brady Campaign being broke demonstrates the sheer advancement of gun rights in this country since the early ’90’s.
On the other hand I think the response by Mr. Walsh is also likely the truth. Henigan wants his buddies in Congress there so they can be impressed by his ability to shit all over American rights. Remember most of of “representatives” don’t think of us as constituents but as peasants needing to be controlled. They love Henigan’s message because a disarmed populace is much easier to control than one armed to the teeth. It would be difficult for a congressman to convince an average person that they need to have their rights stripped for “the greater good.” On the other hand it’s trivially easy to convince fellow tyrant wannabes that the peasants need to be disarmed and Henigan gives these tyrants the talking points they need when debating these issues at the Capitol.
We must remember that members of Congress do not need to convince you and me that stricter controls must be placed on firearm ownership, they need to convince each other. Those men and women wearing suits and calling themselves representatives are the only voices that matter when it comes to voting on legislation. Our so-called “representatives” know a majority of the United States doesn’t care what happens in Washington so long as the “representatives” can give a handful of talking points explaining why they “had” to vote the way they did.
Henigan knows his place, to be the expresser of talking points for the tyrants in Washington. The last thing anybody from the Brady Campaign wants to deal with is a debate held somewhere accessible by the general public because that requires explaining to the public why they’re too stupid to manage their own lives.
My head constantly reels at some of the stupidity I come across in the world. Case in point members of Saudi Arabia’s religious council have released a report claiming that lifting the prohibition against women driving would lead to horrible consequences:
Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in ‘no more virgins’, the country’s religious council has warned.
A ‘scientific’ report claims relaxing the ban would also see more Saudis – both men and women – turn to homosexuality and pornography.
That’s right, allowing women to drive will lead to the extinction of virgins in their country and the spontaneous introduction of homosexuality. This is a huge problem in other countries that allow women to drive… I’m sorry I mistyped, there is no such problem in said countries. If this report is to be believed homosexuality only started to crop up after the invention of the automobile and the entire history of Greece (among many other nations) was entirely fictional. On top of that it also means there isn’t a single virgin anywhere in any country that allows women to drive.
Much of this seems to stem from simple misunderstandings:
In the report Professor Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state.
‘All the women were looking at me,’ he wrote. ‘One made a gesture that made it clear she was available… this is what happens when women are allowed to drive.’
The misunderstanding is quite obvious, many men from Saudi Arabia appear to believe that they’re hot shit and a gift from God to women everywhere. I know a few men like this and when they claim a woman is making it clear she is available it is very obvious no such fact exists. Perhaps somebody simply needs to deflate the egos of these narcissistic assholes and the country’s problems will be quickly alleviated.
Read the following excerpt and tell me if something looks amiss to you:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have confiscated another 11 domains names, all related to Korean movie portals.
The seizures are another iteration of “Operation In Our Sites”, the domain name seizing initiative designed to crack down on online piracy and counterfeiting.
My question is this: what does online piracy have to do with immigration or customs? I can’t even twist this issue around hard enough to make sense of sicking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on domain name providers to censor bring down websites.
This case looks to be yet another case of mission creep. Government agencies love getting more power because with each increase in power comes justification for demanding additional federal funds to maintain operations of the “underfunded” (according to them) agency. If we’re going to have federal enforcement agencies then they damn well should be restricted to a very specific mission. Every time they expand their power it comes at the direct expense of our liberty.
The Ford Ranger is by far my favorite vehicle. I’m on my third Ranger and was hoping to someday be on my fourth but that desire was shutdown with news of the Ford Plant in St. Paul, the last plant manufacturing Rangers, being mothballed. While this is a bit sad it just means my next vehicle will likely be a Ford F-150, which will piss off the enviro-nazis even more than my current gas guzzler so that will certainly be an upside. Still it was interesting reading the Star Tribune’s piece because at one point they pondered if there was anything the government of Minnesota or St. Paul could have done to save the plant. Their speculations were amusing to me:
Dziczek said another factor was the recent stripping of job security language in UAW contracts.
“It used to cost companies an arm and leg to close plants in the automotive diaspora because they had to continue to pay those workers,” she said. “Without those protections, it became easier to close regional outposts.”
You know what else hurt the Ford plant? Union wages. Don’t get me wrong, if a group of workers want to get together and form a union in the hopes of fighting for better wages and working conditions I’m perfectly fine with it. I’m also perfectly fine with the owners of a company firing everybody attempting to create such a union because that’s what voluntary association means, if either party is unhappy with the association they are free to terminate it.
Either way union labor laws in the United States are a tricky beast and they are entirely on the side of the unions. Some would consider this fact a great win for workers but workers aren’t the ones who make union policies, higher ups in the union are. Union leaders will often tell you that their job is to represent the workers and thus they will make outrageous demands including insanely high wages, pensions, and requirements that promotions be based entirely on seniority. Even though such things sound great for workers it ends up biting them in the ass as the companies paying these benefits are unable to continue operations and eventually have to make a decision; close plants with expensive union labor or face bankruptcy. In either case the workers end up losing their job.
Regardless of what union high ups believe those “greedy corporate bastards” don’t have an infinite line of money in which to pay workers. Many factories don’t pay employees more for the simple fact the employees don’t provide more value to the company. Somebody who gets paid $22.00 and hour to put windshield wiper blades on trucks all day isn’t really bringing $22.00 and hour of value to the company and therefore is costing the company money every hour. When paying your employees loses money you’re in a slowly sinking boat.
Minnesota’s distance from auto parts makers in the Michigan-Ohio rust belt further doomed the St. Paul plant, as parts had to be shipped from far away. Despite those factors, some experts insist the St. Paul Ford plant could have been saved if state leaders had more manufacturing expertise and foresight.
“It was a gross piece of stupidity for the state of Minnesota to let this plant die,” said Fred Zimmerman, a retired University of St. Thomas manufacturing professor.
He said state leaders could have come up with a plan to build an integrated metal stamping facility, perhaps in the sandstone caves below the plant, and that might have helped solve the costly problem of shipping in parts.
If Ford believed construction of such a facility would have been a profitable way to continue I guarantee you that there would be such a facility at that plant. I agree that the state let the plant die but not through inaction. Minnesota isn’t a very business friendly state, the state government loves to bleed corporations for as much money as they can. When a company is faced with ever dwindling income due to state theft you can bet they’re not going to stay in the state for long. California has this exact issue as big players like Electronic Arts and Adobe have been fleeing the state in the hopes of finding greener pastures. Had the state not continue to syphon funds from productive companies we would likely still have flourishing industry as we did in the old days (I’m still surprised how many companies were started in Minnesota). At least Zimmerman had one piece of common sense:
Now, Zimmerman says, leaving out its agriculture sector “Minnesota is, to some extent, a Greece in the making.” Losing high-wage Ford jobs will hurt a state with mounting unfunded public pensions and other budget challenges.
“You have to make things and export them out of the community to pay the bills,” he said. “It’s a great tragedy to lose one of the best places for employment in the entire state.”
An economy that buys but doesn’t sell is one that will be facing failure in quick time. This is a problem in the United States as a whole. The government makes doing business in the United States more difficult with every rule, law, and regulation. Why would a company build a manufacturing plant in the United States when they have to spend millions of dollars on idiotic regulation compliances when they can just contract with a Chinese manufacturer for a fraction of the cost? Who will start a company in the United States when they will be facing huge corporate income taxes where as they’ll face little or none in Hong Kong? You can’t continue to steal from people and expect them to gladly take it. So what’s to be done with the plant? Ford is hoping to sell it to somebody for new development but it seems the mayor of St. Paul wants to hinder that development:
“We still hope to develop this into a little jewel for the metro area, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Bill Klein, a business attorney and task force co-chairman who lives two miles away. “It’s going to be a long process.”
Added Coleman: “We’re not just going to take the first operation that comes in and says they’ll take the whole site and create 200 jobs. That’s not acceptable to anyone.” Among his concerns: replacing Ford’s diverse workforce. “I’ve always been impressed by the number of women of color working in that plant,” he said.
They’re not “going to take the first operation that comes in.” No, instead they’ll likely turn down numerous productive ideas in the hope of finding a developer who will build some fancy looking building that ultimately generate nothing of value. Perhaps Toyota will desire the location, only to be turned down because they don’t have a plan to build some fancy looking tourist attraction. The state (in general, not Minnesota) is the single largest hinderance to business.
Either way so long Ford Plant. I’ll always have fond memories of the Ford Ranger and wish it wouldn’t have to end like this but fully understand continued development of such a vehicle in a hostile business environment isn’t a sustainable possibility.
Were you one of the people who thought zero tolerance in school was a good idea? If so you’re responsible for shit like this:
A 9-year-old boy North Carolina boy was suspended for calling a teacher “cute,” WSOCTV.com reports.
The boy’s mother, Chiquita Lockett, said the principal of Brookside Elementary in Gastonia called her after the incident to say the comment was a form of “sexual harassment.”
Apparently calling a girl cute is sexual harassment. Going back I wonder how many sexual harassments charges I should have against me under these new guidelines. Seriously the kid was nine fucking years old, I doubt he’s old enough to even know what sexual harassment is. Oh, and let’s not forget this gem:
The news of the North Carolina boy’s suspension comes as a Massachusetts elementary school is investigating a first-grader for sexual harassment after the boy struck another boy his age in the groin.
The mother of the accused 7-year-old tells the Boston Globe that her son was fending off another child, who had choked him in an altercation on the school bus on Nov. 22.
Sure why not? Hell we should just implement thoughtcrime while we’re at it. Can we make holding hands punishable under sexual harassment clauses while we’re at it? I mean there are still physical interactions out there where kids aren’t being nailed with sexual harassment charges and we can’t fucking have that.
Everybody who thought zero tolerance was a good idea please kindly hurl yourselves off of a cliff and save the rest of humanity from further stupidity.
Online petitions are always entertaining to read. While many of them contain good ideas the history of such petitions accomplishing anything is nonexistent. Thus I find the continued proliferation of such petitions, given their futile nature, a little bit surprising. Still I must say if this petition calling for the impeachment of every senator who voted for the National Defense Authorization Act received any traction the people of the United States would quickly learn the fact that their government is no longer by the people:
To every Senator who votes in favor of the $662 billion-dollar National Defense Authorization Act a.k.a. “U.S. is a Battlefield” bill, which gives the military a right to raid the homes of U.S. citizens and detain them indefinitely without charges, rights to a lawyer, or habeus corpus:
You are committing treason directly against the American people! We do not fear signing this petition, because if we live in fear, we will have lost. This is a way of peacefully standing up and saying we will not let a small group of politicians take away the rights and freedoms of 300,000,000+ people!
We the People are holding you accountable and saying, “We will not let this happen.” This legislation goes directly against the U.S. Citizens Bill of Rights written by our Founding Fathers. It is the basis of the country and no one is allowed to dissolve these rights!
Americans, stand up for our country and what is right! Impeach every single Senator who votes to destroy the Constitution
Asking 93 out of 100 senators to being impeachment hearings against themselves isn’t going to happen. Those asking for impeachment likely do not understand the difference between impeachment and recall elections. Impeachment hearings are initiated by the legislative body, the same people who just voted in favor of this bill. Recall elections are voter initiated actions to remove a “representative” from power. The only process really available to the people if a majority of the legislative body is against us is mass recall elections. We need to remember that these senators don’t view themselves as representatives of the people but overlords of the peasants whom should remain subservient to the state. If voting in favor of legislation granting the indefinite detainment of American citizens without trail isn’t enough to prove this point I don’t know what is.
I fully admit that I’m not a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fiction. It’s not that I think his fiction is bad, I’m just not big into the fantasy genre. With that said I am a big fan of the undertones in much of his work regarding the dangers of politics. You’re probably wondering why discussion of Tolkien is appearing in a Monday Metal post. The answer is quite simple, this week’s entry is by the band Battlelore. All the lyrics for Battlelore’s music is inspired by Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. While I’m not familiar with the fiction I really dig the band and their music. Stand up and bang your head to some fucking great metal:
I would like to take a moment out of my day to thank senators Franken and Klobuchar for voting in favor of indefinite detention of American citizens without charge. It’s good to see such staunch defenders of government power representing the fine state of Minnesota.
In case either Franken or Klobuchar have staff members that are paid to browse the Internet for mentions of their names let me make my position clear in case the sarcasm is missed; if either Franken or Klobuchar have any decency they’ll immediately resign for their failure to defend the rights of the American people. Of course I realize that they’re both politicians and therefore have no decency but alas I like to make my opinion well known.
The city of San Francisco recently passed an ordinance banning the inclusions of toys with meals that don’t mean arbitrarily selected nutritional standards (standards so high that public school meals don’t even meet them). This ordinance was a swipe at fast food joints that provide toys with kids meals and like all such ordinances this one ended up being entirely pointless:
It turns out San Francisco has not entirely vanquished the Happy Meal as we know it. Come Dec. 1, you can still buy the Happy Meal. But it doesn’t come with a toy. For that, you’ll have to pay an extra 10 cents.
I’m not usually a big fan of McDonald’s (although I fully admit their fries are fucking awesome) but in this case I just want to find the person who came up with this idea and give them a huge fucking high-five. It fills me with joy to see, what was likely, hours of debate between worthless bureaucrats culminate into absolutely nothing. With a very simple change of policy McDonald’s was able to take this new piece of red tape and render it completely meaningless.
Oh, bonus points for coming up with a solution that does some additional good:
(though adults and children purchasing unhealthy food can at least take solace that the 10 cents is going to Ronald McDonald House charities)
That’s just rubbing salt in the state’s wound and I admire it greatly.