Tag: Minnesota

It Couldn’t Happen to Nicer People

The Republican Party of Minnesota has been pushing two major initiatives: a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and a constitutional amendment to require photo ID when voting. They are fighting hard for both of these initiatives while the most critical issues, namely the deficit and ever increasing oppressive nature of the government, are being entirely ignored. Needless to say they’re complete failures as far as small government and fiscal responsibility are concerned so I can’t help but laugh at this:

“We continue to be in a very precarious working capital position,” wrote Bron Scherer, the Secretary-Treasurer of the state party, in a March memo marked “Confidential, Do Not Forward.”

In the memo to the state party executive committee, Scherer noted that “we are not paying our office lease rent payment currently…and have not yet negotiated long-term payment schedules and/or negotiated settlements relating to most of the vendors on the accounts payable aging.”

Said one Minnesota Republican about a state with at least two House Republicans facing competitive re-elections: “I don’t know how the party is going to be at all capable of doing anything this cycle.”

A fate well deserved. I’m glad to see they don’t even have enough money to pay rent for their office, they have been doing nothing constructive and plenty that is destructive. They’ve made their bed and now they’re being forced to lay in it and they damn well deserve it. There could be some hope that the Minnesota Republican Party would do some internal changes in the hopes of getting in good with the people again but I doubt that will happen. Instead of appeasing the people of Minnesota the Republican Party will just find some way of blaming the Democrats for their current woes and appeal to the authoritarians with more neocon malarkey.

Politics, the Art of Force

Anybody who has been reading this blog for more then a day has probably come to the conclusion that I hate politics. Politics, to me, is nothing more than a sick amusement. When politicians explain their next plan to fuck us over I just sit back, laugh, and try to let people know what the ruling party of this country are doing. We may not be able to avoid getting screwed but it’s still nice to know how we’re going to get screwed.

While politics is nothing more than a sick for of amusement for me it’s worth analyzing what politics really is. Politics is nothing more than a socially acceptable way to force people into doing what you want them to. Going up to somebody, putting a gun to their head, and demanding they dance like a trained monkey is generally frowned upon; but if you run for office, get elected, and pass a bill that legally requires people to dance like trained monkeys that’s perfectly acceptable. Every legislative initiative ultimately boils down to this: one side wants to force the other side to comply with a list of demands.

Nowhere is this more apparently than political conventions. I’ve already written two rants about the basic political organizing unit (BPOU) convention I attended last week but I feel a point needs to be driven home. At that convention I was surrounded by the most disgusting, vile, and monstrous people in existence. These people claimed to be there for the good of the country but ultimately they were there to force the country to obey one or more demands. Some people were there hoping to raise support for the upcoming vote to ban gay marriage in Minnesota. Others wanted to push for war with Iran. Many attendees wanted to push for laws that would make abortion in all forms illegal. There were even individuals who wanted to advocate for laws that would ban all gambling in Minnesota.

What every one of those individuals have in common is a desire to use the state’s gun to force people to comply with their ideals. Then you have the politicians, the people who are no longer content with forcing people through indirect means and have opted for more direct means. Political conventions really shed light on the political process, politicians show up and tell the crowd how what they will force people to do and the crowd bases their vote on those promises of force. If you want to stop gay marriage you vote for the politicians promising to prohibit gay marriage. Those who want to force people into sobriety can vote for the politician who promises to force sobriety through stronger punishments for drug use. Convention are where the monster meet. Those unwilling to directly force other into obedience can elect those who are willing to directly force others into obedience. It almost causes me to vomit thinking about it.

Politics is disgusting. It requires a devious mind in order to counter other people who oppose your desires. Underhanded trickery and schemes are de facto strategies at political conventions because power hungry monsters known only force but also wish to avoid being forced into a course of action. Eventually everybody who plays the political game gets burned by an opponent who is more devious and cunning. Decisions are never based on mutually agreeable terms because those who end up being affected have no say in the matter.

Libertarians suck at politics because we have no interest in controlling the actions of others. I have no interest in running your life so I’m ineffective when it comes to politics. Political deals can’t be brokered when you have nothing to offer. In order to make a political exchange one must have something to offer in the realm of force. For example, if one wanted a candidate to ban drug usage they may accept a law banning gay marriage as well. A politician who wants to ban gay marriage may be willing to support bans on drug usage if it means the advocates will provide votes. Basically one trades their form a tyranny for another’s form of tyranny.

The political ineffectiveness of libertarians isn’t due to apathy or laziness, it’s due to the fact that we have no tyranny to offer and therefore we have no effective means of making political deals. It always confuses me when people criticize libertarians based on our ineffectiveness at politics. People don’t seem to understand that our ineffectiveness derives from our beliefs in personal liberty, we have no interest in running the lives of others. Our ineffectiveness actually demonstrates our ideology better than any book, speech, or movie could. In the world of coercion we simply shrug our shoulders, tell everybody to run their own lives, and dabble in politics only as a means of self-defense (in general we are only interested in limited how screwed we’re going to get).

The people who worry me are those who are good a politics. Being good an manipulating others into supporting force is not something to be looked upon favorably. When somebody says the Republican Party is better than the Libertarian Party because the Republican Party actually gets people elected they’re actually saying the Republican Party is better at negotiating with force. Republican candidates can offer up ways they desire to force others, libertarians can not. A Republican candidate can say he’ll support another’s desire to enforce sobriety but wants the ability to stop people from gambling if elected. Such an ability should never be considered a merit. Politics is the art of force and being good at it should be seen as monstrous.

The Free Ice Cream Machine is Running Low

I’m sorry but the free ice cream machine is running a little low today. I participated in my local basic political organizational unit (BPOU) convention last night and now I’m filled with dread, hopelessness, and rage. Needless to say I can’t find the energy to write anything at the moment so you’ll just have to check back later.

Let me say this: what I witnessed last night was something I’d expect to find in a kindergarten classroom. The people who go to political conventions are children, they show up to fight amongst one another for scraps from the power table of the higher ups, they want a piece of the power and don’t give two shits about anybody else. There will probably be a long rant explaining my sheer distain for political conventions and the people who attend them but I’ll have to wait to write it, the feeling of hopelessness for the future of humanity is just too great right now.

Because Discrimination is Fun

I always find it funny when people scream about discrimination in schools. Why? It’s not because I support discrimination but because of the selective nature of anti-discriminatory policies. While they preach about the need to create a safe environment for all children they also try to prevent many students from feeling welcome. For every rule prohibiting the discrimination of homosexuals, African Americans, women, etc. there is another rule that ban talking about firearms. No rules exist to protect libertarians, atheists, or other groups that are often discriminated against, especially in schools. If you want to see a kid get discriminated against immediately just watch for one to make a comment against public unions, the teachers will descend upon him like vulture on carrion. My main point is that schools don’t oppose discrimination, they promote it by being very selective in the groups they protect. When a school protects one group over another they also make a statement, that those protected groups are better than others and therefore other groups are obviously lesser and, therefore, valid targets of discrimination.

Now that I’ve gotten the gears of discrimination moving let’s talk about adult film stars, or more specifically, two adult file stars. This story starts with an 18 year-old male named Mike Stone, a student at the Tartan High School. Mr. Stone decided to send out invitations to 600 adult film actresses to be his date to prom, and one accepted. The one who accepted, Megan Piper, then invited another, Emy Reyes. Obviously Mr. Stone is now the talk of his class, and for good reason (consider his age, consider what he accomplished, then realize he’s going to be the most popular guy with the guys). Needless to say the school administration saw a student having fun and accomplishing one of his goals in life so they had to shut him down:

A Tartan High School student who used Twitter to find an adult film actress to go to prom with him May 12 won’t be allowed to bring the woman to the dance, according to a statement released by the school. The statement says:

“It has been reported in the national news that a Tartan student has invited a porn star to attend prom and she has accepted his invitation, subject to his paying for her airfare to Minnesota. However, this prom date will not be allowed to attend the Tartan prom as her attendance would be prohibited under Tartan’s standard prom procedures and would be inconsistent with two school district policies, E-077 (Visitors to School District Buildings and Sites) and E-084 (School Sponsored Student Publications and Activities).”

Hold the boat here, what? A student is being prohibited from brining his dates to prom? What kind of discriminatory bullshit is that? Are high schools not the bastions of anti-discrimination? Are we not told that all are excepted, and indeed welcomes, in the hands of public schools? What could possibly be in these school policies that would override their supposed prohibitions against discrimination? Let’s take a look. I went diving through the Oakdale school district’s webpage and found the policies mentioned in the statement above. E-077 [PDF] deals with visitors and exists mainly to give the school the option of banning “undesirables” from school grounds:

3) Visitor Limitations

A. An individual or group may be denied permission to visit a school or school property or
such permission may be revoked if the visitor(s) does not comply with the school district
procedures and regulations or if the visit is not in the best interest of students, employees
or the school district.

If that’s not a catch-all statement I don’t know what is. I’m curious who gets to decide whether or not a visitor is “in the best interests of students, employees, or the school district?” Is there some kind of blacklist containing various “undesirables” such as libertarians, gun owners, and adult film starts or is the decision entirely made willy nilly? My guess is the latter. Next we must take a look at E-084 [PDF], which deals with school publications and events:

1) General Statement of Policy

A. The school district may exercise editorial control over the style and content of student
expression in school-sponsored publications and activities.

B. Expression and representations made by students in school publications is not an
expression of official school district policy. Faculty advisors shall supervise student
writers to ensure compliance with the law and school district policies.

C. Students who believe their right to free expression has been unreasonably restricted in an
official student publication or activity may seek review of the decision by the building
principal. The principal shall issue a decision no later than three (3) school days after
review is requested.

1. Students producing official school publications and activities shall be under the
supervision of a faculty advisor and the school principal. Official publications and
activities shall be subject to the guidelines set forth below.

2. Official school publications may be distributed at reasonable times and locations.

[…]

3) Guidelines

A. Expression in an official school publication or school-sponsored activity is prohibited when
the material:

1. is obscene to minors;

2. is libelous or slanderous;

3. advertises or promotes any product or service not permitted for minors by law;

4. encourages students to commit illegal acts or violate school regulations or
substantially disrupts the orderly operation of school or school activities;

5. expresses or advocates sexual, racial, or religious harassment or violence or
prejudice;

6. is distributed or displayed in violation of time, place, and manner regulations

Honestly I’m not sure how E-084 comes into play here. Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Reyes are not material being written about in a publication, nor are they promoting anything listed in the verboten list. At most E-084 would allow the school to prevent Mr. Stone from publishing material for distribution in the school bragging about what he has done, although that prevention wouldn’t be based on any of the listed items on the verboten list.

Either way the school has seen fit to prohibit Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Reyes from entering the school, a decisions that is technically covered under E-077. This raises a question in my opinion: were the two women banned from entering the school because of their choice in careers? Does the mere fact of being an adult file actress put you on the school’s blacklist? If so, what other careers can put you on the blacklist? We know school officials have a zero tolerance policy towards firearm so we must ask if anybody working in the firearms manufacturing field would be prohibited from entering the school. If Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Reyes violate E-084 then police officers must as well under 3-5, “expresses or advocates sexual, racial, or religious harassment or violence or prejudice;” since police officers do express and advocate violence from time to time.

Let’s take this a step further, what if Mrs. Piper or Mrs. Reyes had a kid in the Oakdale school system? Would they be prohibited from attending student teacher conferences? Could they enter the building to pick up the child for a doctor’s appointment? After all if they’re career is what prohibited it them from entering the school then they must never be allowed to enter, right? If it’s not their choice in careers is is because they’re both women? Is it because Mrs. Reyes happens to be black? We do know for certain that discrimination is afoot.

Whether or not one agrees with the school’s decision isn’t of my concern, the fact that the school claims to be a bastion of anti-discrimination while being discriminators themselves is. The hypocrisy is palpable. School officials never waste an opportunity to come out and talk at length about their hard work in making their school a safe place for everybody. They will go so far as to find scapegoats to sacrifice just so they can’t demonstrate how hard they work to fight discrimination. You can be sure that any fight between kids of differing races will be treated as a hate crime, even if the fight was simply over a non-racial statement said by one student to the other.

The bottom line is schools work hard to prohibit discrimination only if you’re part of a group they like. If you’re not a member of a group they like, say gun owners or libertarians, you’ll not receive their protection and will actually be discriminated against by faculty members. Apparently adult film actresses aren’t one of the protected groups and therefore the school is more than happy to discriminate against them.

Privileges of Authority

As I always say there are two sets of rules; one that applies to the rule makers and another that applies to us mere peasants. Another way of putting this is when you give a group a monopoly on the making and enforcing of laws they will be sure to exempt themselves from said laws:

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — State lawmakers are subject to the the laws they make, with one surprising exception. They can’t be arrested for a misdemeanor during the session.

“Every time we talk to legislators about this they pull out their card and tell us, ‘Oh, you’re talking about this card’?” Jayne Jones, a Concordia University adjunct professor, told KARE.

The card, issued to all 201 legislators, and signed by the Secretary of State, certifies that the lawmaker carrying it is entitled to privileges stated on the back of the card. The back quotes Article IV, Section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution.

“PRIVILEGE FROM ARREST. The members of each house in all cases except treason, felony and breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during the session of their respective houses and in going to or returning from the same.”

Legislators in Minnesota have given themselves immunity from law for the length of their session. If a “representative” is drunk off his ass, gets in his car, and drives home he’s has immunity. Such exemptions require participation by two entities, the legislators that make the rules and the officers who enforce the rules. In the case of a drunk legislator driving home it’s in the police’s best interest to be an obedient dog of the state instead of keeping people safe since arresting a legislator during his or her session will lead to termination of the office.

I guess it’s easier to make laws when you’re basically immune to them.

Governor Dayton Vetoed HR 1467

I’m in no way surprised about this but Governor Dayton vetoed HR 1467:

Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the so-called “castle doctrine” self-defense bill on Monday.
The proposal, supported by the gun-rights groups and opposed by Minnesota’s law-enforcement organizations, would have expanded the legal justification for citizens who use deadly force in threatening situations.

His reasoning? Well he took the advice of liars:

Dayton made his veto by letter without commenting publicly.

In his veto letter, Dayton said, he had to honor the opposition of law enforcement.

“The MN Police and Peace Officers Association, the MN Chiefs of Police and the MN Sheriffs Association represent the men and woman who risk their lives every day and night to protect the rest of us. When they strongly oppose a measure, because they believe it will increase the dangers to them in the performance of their duties, I cannot support it,” Dayton wrote.

No, they strong oppose the bill because it removes their feeling of superiority, that smug feeling they get by knowing they’re the only ones legally able to defend themselves wherever they roam. I will also add that no state that has passed these measures has noticed any additional danger to officers on the street, but facts are irrelevant to those in power.

Either way this is the outcome I expected. Any battle to win back powers taken by the state is long are arduous. We’ve seen where Mark Dayton stands on the right of self-defense and with this veto he’s flat out stated that he supports criminals over you and me. This battle certainly isn’t over, we’re not going to stop pushing this until it’s through and if that means ousting the governor and electing somebody less willing to side with criminals then that is what will be done.

The Final Day for HR 1467

Andrew Rothman of the Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (MNGOCRA) let me know that today is the final day for Dayton to make a decision on HR 1467, the omnibus gun rights bill. According to Article 4, section 23, of the Minnesota Constitution, “Any bill not returned by the governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it is presented to him becomes a law as if he had signed it, unless the legislature by adjournment within that time prevents its return.” That means Dayton has three choices available to him: sign the bill, veto the bill, or do nothing and let the bill become law as if he signed it. Whether he signs the bill or ignores it is really irrelevant to use, the only issue we’ll have is if he vetos.

We have until midnight so let’s make the best use of that time. As I’ve been urging you please take a few minutes to call Dayton’s office at either 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717. You can also send a free fax via FaxZero to the Governor’s office at 651-797-1850 and send an e-mail via the contact form on the Governor’s website.

HF 1467 has been Sent to Dayton’s Office, Start Calling Him Now

I’ve gotten word that HF 1467, the Minnesota omnibus gun rights bill, has been delivered to Dayton’s office. You know what this means, right? It’s all or nothing, we need to start hounding Dayton’s office even more than we already have.

Take a few minutes to call Dayton’s office at either 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717. After you’re done with the call it would be a good idea to pen a real physical dead tree letter to his office. Letters can be sent to:

Governor Mark Dayton
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Why stop there? You can then send a free fax via FaxZero to the Governor’s office at 651-797-1850. Finally navigate your browser to the contact form on the Governor’s website and hit his inbox up with a letter urging him to sign HF 1467.

We need to be heard so Dayton realizes that his veto of the bill will mean Minnesota gun owner’s veto of his job come election time.

Why are you still here? GO GO GO!

All is Peaceful at the Minnesota State Capitol

Everything is peaceful at the Minnesota State Capitol, which means Dayton’s office isn’t getting hammered with enough phone calls. It would be great to get those phone ringing off the hook with statements from people who want the Governor to sign HR 1467. Make a quick call to 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717 when you have five minutes. If you’re an old school kind of person you can also send a fax to 651-797-1850. For those who are kind of old school and kind of new school you can use FaxZero to send a free fax from the Interwebitubes.

To those of you who have called Dayton’s office I thank you, now call it again. There’s no reason not to raise the urgency of this by calling his office every day until he signs the bill.

Have You Bugged Mark Dayton’s Office Yet

HR 1467, the bill that will bring stand your ground law to Minnesota, has passed both bodies of the legislature and is now awaiting Governor Dayton’s signature. This means we need to make ourselves nuisances so that he’ll sign the bill to shut us up. Contacting his office is easy, all you need to do is pick up a phone and dial 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717. If you have a fax machine you can always fax your statement to 651-797-1850. In fact doing both would be even more enjoyable.

Right now we’re not sure where Dayton stands on this and he’s made no commitment regarding this bill. One Chief of Police has gone so far as to lie about the bill in an attempt to get the governor’s veto. Let’s make Dayton well aware of the fact that his veto on this bill means our veto of his job.

EDIT: 2012-02-27 12:18: A good point was brought to my attention by Andrew, the title Have You Harassed Mark Dayton’s Office Yet was probably not the greatest pick in the universe because the anti-gunners could construe the word harass as meaning more than I actually intended. I’m not a man who generally cares what others think of me, my site, or my sometimes (often?) offensive writing style but I’m also willing to take valid criticism and act on it. Needless to say the title has been changed to Have You Bugged Mark Dayton’s Office Yet.

This is why it’s not safe to unleash me with a keyboard, a medium that people can read, and no copy editor.

Oh, I also corrected a few grammar mistakes, but you guys should be used to seeing those by now.