Tag: Minnesota

I’m Glad They’re Working on the State Budget

While Minnesota is facing a $6.2 billion deficit it seems at least one representative is looking to introduce a bill that would build a subsidized stadium for our state football team:

Three days after the collapse of the Metrodome roof, Sen. Julie Rosen, a Republican from Fairmont, said she planned to introduce a bill in late January to build a new Minnesota Vikings stadium with public subsidies.

According to the laws of physics as we understand them the fasting speed anything can travel is the speed of light. What modern physicist haven’t studied is the speed at which the state of Minnesota hemorrhages money because it’s faster than the speed of light by a long shot. Even though Minnesota is bleeding money several state representatives are willing to diverge state money to build a stadium for millionaires… again (fuck you Twins and your stadium which I’m paying for part of).

I guess we’ll just have to jack up the sales tax in Hennepin county again so those worthless fucks can have a new stadium (because as we know patching that easily patchable roof would be so fucking difficult).

Snowmygodmageddonpocalypse

Did you hear? We received snow… a lot of snow. This shouldn’t be too surprising since this is the state of Minnesota but we always get a little concerned when two and a half feet of snow pile on in one day. This lead to all sorts of fun and games.

First the roads obviously became practically impossible to drive on. I’m not talking a little difficult, I’m talking so bad that the country pulled the snow plows off of the streets. The local metro buses halter operations leaving at least one of my friends stranded at work. Local light rail was bogged down because of the additional passengers and the accumulation of snow on the rails. The Minneapolis airport shut down for a while until they were able to get one runway going partially (they would run it for half and hour, spend 20 minutes clearing it off again, then run it for another half hour). Something akin to 600 people went off of the road throughout the state. Hell the mail wasn’t even delivered in some areas. Basically it was a bad snow storm here in Minnesota.

Summing it up in words really doesn’t do it justice so here are pictures. Everybody on my Facebook feed was also talking about something related to vikings. I’m not sure what they meant but I think it was this song:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_gf0Btwp5E]

On a positive note when snow like this falls Minnesotans usually come together to assist one another. I think everybody I know helped at least two other motorists dig their vehicles out (I almost did but the guy I was going to help was a rude asshole so I left him there). Neighbors with snow blowers went to clear the driveways of their neighbors who had only shovels. A lot of people went on retrieval missions to get friends and families unstuck. And of course everybody enjoyed the pleasure of the police being unable to enforce many stupid laws (for instance a fun sport when the police are stuck and unable to respond is to get on a snowboard, hook up to a four wheel drive vehicle, and go wake boarding).

It’s weather like this that also reminds me why I drive a truck. Yeah my Ranger only gets 17.5 miles per gallon on the highway but when you kick it into four wheel drive that truck will tear through almost anything. Having roughly nine inches of ground clearance also helps.

The entire event can be summed up with the following phrase, global warming is bullshit (seriously when can we get some of that sweet sweet global warming?) and fuck you Al Gore for getting our hopes up!

Joel Rosenberg Arrested

If you converse with many carry advocates in Minnesota you probably know the name Joel Rosenberg. He’s the author or Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Minnesota and a carry permit instructor. Yesterday he was arrested on charges of having possession of a weapon in a courthouse. The story doesn’t seem as straight forward as it’s being reported by the Red Star as this article has a bit more detail.

Either way it seems he carried his gun into Minneapolis City Hall and was requested to leave. According to a stated court order Minneapolis City Hall is a gun-free zone because it connects with the Government Center. I’m not sure how that works as Minneapolis often seems to have laws of their own that little or no sense.

With how convoluted this story is (it seems to be a bunch of he said she said) I haven’t a clue what to think. Although I don’t believe the Minneapolis City Hall can’t arbitrarily declare themselves a gun-free zone I’m not sure if any courthouse integrates into it and thus effects the law. It’s also stated that Mr. Rosenberg refused to leave upon the request of the police officer citing state law. I applaud anybody willing to stand up to an officer on a power trip but frankly I’m one to leave upon request without argument. It’s not that I feel like giving into an officer incorrectly enforcing a law, I just like to avoid conflict with other people when possible. What is really odd though is the story states Mr. Rosenberg was at City Hall on November 5th, allowed to leave, and was arrested yesterday, December 8th.

Mr. Rosenberg posted an open letter regarding the incident which the WCCO mentioned. Personally I find the wording in that letter inflammatory and rather poorly done. Multiple lines can be pulled out of context and perceived as threats. Let this be a note to everybody, be careful of the wording you use when conversing about firearms and self-defense topics. If you ever get involved in a situation you can guarantee some lawyer and the media will dig through your post history and try to use anything you’ve stated against you.

Either way this is going to be an interesting case to say the least.

EDIT 2010-12-09 10:30: Can and can’t are quite different and apparently I don’t know this. I changed “Minneapolis City Hall can arbitrarily” to “Minneapolis City Hall can’t arbitrarily.”

Racism, We’ll Find it Everywhere

The best thing about racism is that you can find it everywhere:

Students for Transit Equality is a recently formed group of University of Minnesota School of Social Work students who are concerned about racial and economic inequalities in Twin Cities transit and transit planning.

Emphasis mine. What’s their case?

The purpose of this information campaign is to draw community awareness and publicity to the lack of any bus shelter at the bus stop at 7th Street and Nicollet Avenue. This bus stop is primarily used by buses bound for north Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. Despite being the most-used bus stop regionwide, this stop has no shelter or any other amenities. Meanwhile, bus stops on the rapid-transit routes of Marquette and 2nd Avenues, serving primarily suburban commuters, are equipped with heated and lit shelters, real-time arrival displays and large transit maps.

Obviously this is a clear case of racism! But wait:

The city of Minneapolis has slowly realized this inequality and has begun planning for an east-west transit spine through downtown Minneapolis that will potentially equip all bus stops along 7th and 8th Streets with shelters.

So… the group exists and is trying to raise awareness of itself even though their gripe is already in the plans to be fixed? What the fuck? I wonder what the next case of racism on Minnesota public transit will be. Wait the last time I took the light rail I remember there being far fewer white people on board than people of other races. RACISM!

Priorities

The Minnesota Vikings are whining that they want a new stadium or they may search for a new home. Caving to sports teams is like caving to terrorists, if you do it once they all expect you to do it again. Needless to say since Minnesota caved to pay part of the Twin’s new stadium with tax money the Vikings want the same:

There have been discussions about raising liquor taxes or possibly using “racino” money to help finance the project. Bennett has even suggested going to the old blackout days and charging people a small fee to get the game on TV, but he’s been told that can’t happen.

Oh, did I mention Minnesota is facing a $6.2 billion deficit? Priorities… we have them.

St. Paul Police Steal a Gun

Here’s an interesting story involving a carry permit holder getting his gun stolen from him by the St. Paul police:

Thomas Hackbarth, 58, was stopped in his car on Nov. 16 after a security guard saw him with a gun in the parking lot about 5 p.m., an hour after the clinic closed. Police ordered him out of his car at gunpoint and handcuffed and questioned him before taking his gun and letting him go.

Hackbarth, who has a conceal and carry permit, picked up his gun from police on Tuesday. He was not arrested or charged, and police have closed the case, said police spokesman Andy Skoogman.

Basically the St. Paul police responded to a “man with a gun” call. That part made sense but the fact that they stole is gun from him without cause is appalling. The key here is they didn’t charge him, they didn’t arrest him, they just confiscated his firearm and left. Unless somebody is being charged with a crime the police have no right in confiscating property of a private citizen.

Stories like this are why I carry concealed, really well concealed. My gun sits in an inside the waistband holster with a shirt tucked in around it. Of course being this is a Red Star article they had to throw in a bit of bias:

Hackbarth said that he always carries his fully loaded gun, and understands why the security guard was alarmed.

Emphasis mine. The wording there is meant to create fear in the reader that a man not only had a gun, not only was it loaded, but it was fully loaded. For fuck sake the man was carrying a revolver, fully loaded means six rounds in most cases. Is he supposed to carry it partially loaded? Maybe he should play Russian roulette with an attacker. And people wonder why I call the Star Tribune the Red Star.

Did I mention Mr. Hackbarth is a state representative? I would love to see more representatives with carry permits who actively carry, good on him. Of course if I were him I’d also take action against the St. Paul police department for putting my life in danger by confiscating my means of self-defense without cause.

Cold Weather Carry

It’s winter and that means heavy coats are back in season. This comes as a double-edge sword for those of us who carry because a large coat offers better concealment of our firearm but also makes getting to it more difficult. For example it would be damned hard for me to draw my .45 sitting inside my inside the waistband holster while I’m wearing my greatcoat. Since cold weather preparation is important I thought I’d bring up some points to consider when carrying in the winter.

Last year I purchased a Ruger LCP because I wanted a small pocketable pistol. Most people want a small gun for carrying in the summer as higher heat usually means shedding of clothing making concealment of larger firearms more difficult. I really have no issue concealing my Glock 30SF in the summer and wanted the pocket pistol for a different season, winter.

My Ruger LCP fits perfectly inside the front pockets of my greatcoat meaning I have something at hand while walking around in the winter. As I said there is no practical way for me to draw my primary gun while wearing my coat but I do have constant access to my front pockets. I could probably fit a larger firearm in there but then I’m dealing with having a gun that works well for winter and really nothing else (I also carry my LCP when I have to wear a suit as my suit pants are large enough to accommodate a pistol and I often find times where I have to take the suit coat off). Thus I’m an advocate for purchasing a pocket pistol for use during the winter in Minnesota.

Another thing to remember is shooting with gloves on can be difficult. I have some cheap knit surplus gloves that I wear in the winter because they’re fairly warm and thin enough that I can get my gloved finger into the trigger guard of my pistols. If you have very large gloves to note you may not be able to get your finger on the trigger while wearing them. Thus it’s important to head to the range and test your winter gear as it relates to carrying because an attacker probably isn’t going to give you time to remove your gloves in order to shoot him. Another option are mittens with the flip up from that exposes your fingers. These are popular with hunters but once again I question being able to get my fingers exposed quickly if I’m in a self-defense situation.

Basically we’re back to the basic rule of carry, test your setup with all your different clothing options.

It’s Winter

This weekend marked the first real start of the official Minnesota winter, really bad weather. Although winter technically starts on an arbitrary date here in Minnesota it’s no official until you have a single night were over a foot of snow falls or pure ice accumulates. Saturday evening we had the later and likewise the local police departments were overrun with calls of accidents that had occurred.

I present to you a remind of how to drive in the winter. First when the weather turns to ice accumulation just stay home if possible. There isn’t anything you can do that will give you acceptable traction on ice. Some people of questionable intelligence seem to think having winter tires or four wheel drive allows them to drive on ice with impunity and they’re wrong. The largest number of vehicles I saw in the ditch on Sunday morning were four wheel drive trucks and SUVs. Be smart and realize when it’s icy you’re fucked.

Deep snow is another problem around these parts. Luckily snow is a place where winter tires and four wheel drive do give you advantages, they increase your traction. This does not mean you can drive a normal highway speeds through so don’t be that guy.

Eventually the mercury will start dropping fast and your survivability will decrease on the same scale. You should have a winter survival kit in your vehicle that consists of (at the very least) extra cloths (warm winter cloths, not t-shirts), cold weather sleeping bags, a fully charged jump pack (because jumper cables require another vehicle), and a shovel (I have an entrenching tool which is both compact and a good shovel). It is also wise to ensure you fuel tank is always at least half full.

Basically don’t be that poor schmuck who gets into a ditch in the middle of nowhere with the only cold weather gear at hand being the overly light coat that he’s wearing.