Shot In The Dark: Exercise in Imagination

June 01, 2006

Exercise in Imagination

Remember when Saint Paul's only Republican mayor in recent memory, now-Senator Norm Coleman, ordered a clampdown on criticism of his administration's officials via any city-chartered media (such as the city's Cable Access network)?

And then do you remember what happened when he moved to bar law-abiding citizens from being around areas of the city where they had "no legitimate business"?

Do you remember how Democrats and civil libertarians marched on City Hall with rhetorical torches and pitchforks, demanding the city get out of the "legislating civil rights" business?

Well, of course you don't. Coleman did no such thing. He never would have.

But Minneapolis' is doing exactly that.

Now, as we've noted before, the vast majority of Democrats are people who thought "libertarian" meant "lined with tinfoil" until John Ashcroft was sworn into office; people who "listened" to Republican and libertarian concerns about the '94 Crime Bill, the '96 Counterterrorism Bill and the more odious aspects of the '90's drug war just long enough to roll their eyes and declare them paranoid delusions. These are people who largely think McCain-Feingold is a good thing, because they think speech should be rationed.

I wrote both of these stories earlier this week; both comment threads descended into picayune squabbles about Minneapolis crime rates.

Which are bad enough, but that dodges the question. As will the inevitable response, "I know your President does, but what do I?". Leaving aside that the President's actions are, so far, within the limits imposed on Presidential power by the Constitution and by Clinton era abuses-become-commonplace, it's still dodging the question.

DFLers - Rybak and Samuels are your people. Do civil liberties only count when a Republican is in power?

And what are you going to do about it?

Posted by Mitch at June 1, 2006 06:00 AM | TrackBack

Comments

Mitch, could you drop me an email?

Lori

Posted by: Lori at June 1, 2006 09:18 AM

Mitch, could you drop me an email?

Lori

Posted by: Lori at June 1, 2006 09:18 AM

So holding you accountable for making accurate statments is dodging the question?

Has a statute regarding the cable-access issue actually been proposed?

Has anything regarding walking in the alleys actually passed the city council in Minneapolis?

I know that you don't like Minneapolis. That's just fine. We'll get along fine without you. But at times you seem just as desperate to find problems as JB does with respect to either St. Paul or Mpls.

Posted by: Nick at June 1, 2006 09:45 AM

"Has anything regarding walking in the alleys actually passed the city council in Minneapolis?"

They're looking at it right now, Nick:

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/463664.html

Read what Mitch posted yesterday:

"[MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCILMAN Don] Samuels in particular emerged as an unapologetic opponent of unsupervised free speech . Rybak made clear his desire to censor cable access television.

If Republicans had spewed this bilge, Democrats would come unglued, crying out against the assault on civil liberties.

[And Twin Cities leftybloggers would snark as if their lives depended on it. - Ed]"

Posted by: Paul at June 1, 2006 10:06 AM

Gee, Mitch, those pretend Democrats who hypothetically protested the non-existent civil liberties violations by Norm Coleman sure sound like bad people!

And that "inevitable response" that those Democrats might make? Totally unconvincing!

Posted by: angryclown at June 1, 2006 10:33 AM

Ideas have consequences:
http://www.shotinthedark.info/archives/000292.html

No right to talk, if it makes someone uncomfortable, becomes no right to walk, if it makes someone uncomfortable.

Posted by: RBMN at June 1, 2006 10:54 AM

Thanks for the civil liberties lesson, right-wing kooks. Now go back to forcing school kids to pray and deciding what kind of art we can't look at.

Posted by: angryclown at June 1, 2006 12:09 PM

AC,

On school prayer, it is a minority of conservatives that want mandidority prayer. What the majority of conservatives want is that kids have the freedom to do so should they choose, rather than have someone repress their right to exercise their freedom of religion. We only ask that equal credence be given to the "or prohibit the practice thereoff" part of the establishment cause.

As to censorship, both sides are guilty of that. (e.g. speech codes on campuses). How long would DaVinci's famous last supper stay up in a university or state school art show? What about a painting portraying Che Guevara as the butcher he was?

What about the infringement on my personal liberty that threatens to arrest me at gunpoint and throw me in jail if I do not hand over 45% of what I earn.

My right to defend myself? The left doesn't think it should exist.

Property rights - it was the "living document" side of the Supreme Court that took those away.

How about my right to allow smoking on my own property - the left took that one too.

Making hiring decisions based on the color of someone's skin rather than choosing freely - that's an imposition from the left.

The right to choose my own provider and pay my own medical expenses - the left wants to take that one.

The right to invest my money for my own retirement as I see fit - the left was proud to keep that away from me.

The left has a much worse record on civil liberties than the right. That is why the majority of people who identify as Libertarians (big or small L), myself included lean Republican rather than Democrat.

Posted by: Nordeaster at June 1, 2006 12:59 PM

Come on, AC, I know you've got a good "wingnut" barb left in you. Fire it out! Come on, little fella!

Posted by: Ryan at June 1, 2006 01:53 PM

You go ahead and look at all the urine-soaked crosses you want. Knock yourself out. Just don't make me pay for it.
I know! How about a big Muhammed tattoo? Comeon Clown, exercize that freedom of expression in your multi-cultural utopia.

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