I went to the House Public Safety Finance committee hearings on the Paymar and Lesch gun bills last night.

More on the event itself a little later.

But I thought this bit was interesting.

The hearings were scheduled for 5:30.  At around 4:45, House staff started passing out copies of an amendment that Paymar reportedly planned to propose for the bill.  Here’s the link to the amendment.  Paymar – the committee chair – waived the Legislature’s new 24 hour waiting period on amendments to get it in for the hearings.   He also passed the word that no public testimony would be taken.

Recap:  45 minutes before the committee hearings – which took place at 5:30PM on March 21 – the DFL committee chair distributed an amendment that fundamentally changed the tenor of Rep. Lesch’s bill.

Now take a look if you will at the time-stamp on the file.  I circled it, so that even I can’t miss it:

9PM the night before. That’s right around 20 hours.

So I have a few questions:

Rules, Apparently, Are For Peasants: From the House permanent rules, section 6.22:

6.22 PUBLIC TESTIMONY. Public testimony from proponents and opponents must be allowed on every bill or resolution before a standing committee, division or subcommittee of the House.

Paymar’s amendment substantially changed Lesch’s bill, by adding a niggling background check restriction to a bill that largely focused on reporting information and sentencing criminals.

How does this not rate public testimony?

Ethics Are What The DFL Says They Are:  Paymar waived his party’s own rule on the waiting period for amendments to jam down a fundamentally bill-changing amendment, sitting on it for nearly a day after reneging on his “promise” to Rep. Hilstrom before dumping it outside the hearing room 45 minutes before the hearing.

If only the ethics committee could hear about it.

If Only We Had An Institution, Full Of Highly-Trained People With Years Of Experience Asking Questions And Who’ve Convinced Themselves That They Are A Monastic Elite Apart From Society With A Mission Of Keeping Institutions On The Straight And Narrow.  Perhaps With Printing Presses And Transmitters:  More on this later.

Michael Paymar is going to attempt to jam down amendments wrecking perfectly good bills – like Hilstrom’s and, to an extent, Lesch’s – which are supported by a bipartisan majority of the House.  He’s going to do it because the DFL’s lotus-eating metrocrat pandits find guns in the hands of the plebeians distasteful.

There’s really no other reason.

Upon further review – the Minnesota Vikings spent a fortune to acquire their new stadium.

The Vaseline Dome has re-entered the media picture in the last few weeks, as new concerns have been raised about the viability of the electronic pull-tab funding mechanism which has fallen $13.2 million short of yearly estimates.  Or more accurately, completely fallen apart since the State had expected the pull-tabs to generate $15 million a year, putting the threat of needing general funds to finance a luxury item back on the table.

Flawed or not, the stadium financing figures aren’t the only numbers that have come to light in recent weeks.  We now know how much Zygi Wilf and company spent in their multi-year lobbying effort to build a stadium in the exact same location as their current home – $4,270,000.

Via MPR’s Capitol View and Paul Tosto

The Vikings were the 6th largest lobbyist group (by dollars spent) in the last six years.  And while the $610,000 spent last year as the stadium was finally approved was a drop in the bucket of the estimated $54 million spent by all lobbyist groups in 2012, the $1.5 million used by the Vikings during 2011-12 would have made them the 3rd largest lobbyist of the cycle. Even lobbying powerhouse Education Minnesota spent slightly less at the Capitol in that period.  Purple pride indeed.

$4.2 million for $975 million is a tremendous value (although the Vikings spent millions more in stadium-related advertising).  But the end product may not look like such a deal if the financing structure collapses in on itself.  Which begs the question – what happens when the State finally admits the pull-tab solution isn’t working?

The state’s $498 million share of the $975 million project is to be paid for through sales of electronic pull-tabs. But the final two pages of the stadium bill provide for two “blink-on” funding provisions as backups. The first is an NFL-themed lottery and the second, if necessary, is a 10 percent tax on luxury suites.

And what of the doomsday scenario, where all three provisions fall short of the money required for the state’s annual payments? At that point, from what I can tell, the state would have to produce money from its general fund — something Gov. Mark Dayton promised not to do when campaigning for the facility.

Would either of these other solutions generate the revenue necessary?  A Vikings-themed lotto doesn’t sound fundamentally different than the pull-tab concept.  The Minnesota Lottery brought in $123 million in profit last year, but that’s among 9 different games.  A 10th lotto isn’t likely to expand the number of people playing, only shrink the total amount left that would otherwise go into the State’s coffers.  Besides, over 70% of the funds generated by the lottery go either to paying winners or towards lottery administration.

The most likely end game for the Vikings stadium financing shell game lies within the 10% luxury suite tax.  Current suite rental prices aren’t terrible by NFL standards, running around $15,000 to $26,000 a game.  Slapping another $1,500 or $2,000 is unlikely to cause any corporation to abandon their suite, but certainly won’t make the Vikings happy as they compute what to charge going forward.

The only real problem with the luxury tax idea is that it was envisioned as a last-gasp measure, meant to fill in a minor funding short-fall – not the State’s entire share.  If the Vikings lotto goes the way of the pull-tab, that’s precisely what the tax will become.  And if that occurs, the political football of using general funds will be kicked right at Mark Dayton’s 2014 prospects.

For a decade, I referred to former longtime Minneapolis machine senator Wes Skoglund by the sobriquet “Lying Sack of Garbage”.  The reason was simple; every time he opened his mouth on the subject of firearms and the Second Amendment, he lied.  Every.  Single.  Time.

Skoglund left office some years back, apparently out of fear that carry permit holders from the Crips were stalking him.  And for the years since then, Representative Heather Martens has had to carry the load of lying about gun owners, firearms and the Second Amendment, during what were the lean years for the gun-grabbing orc movement.

But it’s a new day for the DFL, and a new leader has stepped up.  Michael Paymar is everything Skoglund used to be.

After saying “Universal Registration” was off the table on Tuesday, he turned around and said it’d be offered as an amendment yesterday:

Only a few hours earlier, Paymar reached an agreement with a fellow committee member, Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, that gutted his universal background checks bill. In exchange, Hilstrom agreed to a bill that would extend background checks to private sales made at gun shows — but not to other private sales, such as those made over the internet or among neighbors or friends.

Paymar said at that time that the agreement kills universal background checks for all private sales, but that closing the “gun show loophole” was a major step forward.

On Wednesday he said, “The agreement we had with the Speaker is that Rep. Hilstrom would agree to the gun show loophole language, and that the Speaker would allow a vote on the House floor.” But once that more limited bill reaches the floor, Paymar said, an amendment will likely be offered to re-insert universal background checks.

“I refuse to let the Legislature take a walk on this thing,” Paymar said. “I refuse to let the leadership not be accountable for a bill not coming to the floor.” He added, “I can’t believe we’d walk away from the Legislative session and not have a vote on it, up or down.”

Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, a member of Paymar’s committee and a leading advocate for gun-owners rights, accused Paymar of “trickery and deceit.” He said Paymar assured members Tuesday night that universal checks were dead.

“And now he’s overtly admitting, that was just for committee,” Cornish said. “I think he’s going to lose a lot of DFL support.”

Let’s hope so.

I’ll quote Paymar from the Strib piece again:

“I’m not giving up on this,” Paymar said. Once a bill comes to the floor, he said, “I am guaranteed that someone will offer an amendment that will offer each member, Democrat and Republican, the chance to vote on this issue. I want people to take a stand on this issue, up or down.”

So do I.  I want to see every Martha Forging DFLer put their vote on the line on that amendment. Oh, my, yes.  I surely do.

Michael Paymar.  The new Lying Sack of Garbage.

Joe Doakes emails:

My iPod collection is eclectic. Jefferson Starship’s “We Built This City (On Rock-and-Roll)” just played.

It occurs to me that if you’re talking about San Francisco, that’s probably true; Haight-Ashbury typifies that burg.

But New York or Cleveland? They weren’t built by rock-and-roll. They were built by Big Band and Swing, the music of the people who won The War and made American manufacturing the greatest force in the world throughout the 1940’s and 50’s.

Rock-and-roll was the Baby Boomers music. Rock-and-roll didn’t build those cities, it killed those cities, and many more. Detroit was Mo-Town when the old folks ran it; with Baby Boomers in charge, it’s Mo-Handout-Town. The fortunes of iron-ore-mining town Hibbing waned exactly as home-boy Bob Dylan’s waxed.

Okay, it’s only a song and not a very good one at that, not some great philosophical commentary on society.

Joe is too tactful.  Starship’s “We Built This City” is perhaps the worst song in Top Forty history, rivaled only by Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight”.

But that actually reinforces his point: 

Still, I wonder how much difference it would make if popular culture turned away from “if it feels good, do it” and back to “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Joe Doakes

Tangential thought: what does it say about either the music or the city that Minneapolis’ “Wedge” neighborhood (from Franklin to Lake between Hennepin and Lyndale) is exactly the same pompous, pretentious, overpriced wanna-be-artist’s-garret toilet now as it was before the Replacements’ heyday?

Speaking of which:

No, Joe’s right. America was the first culture in history to develop an “independent” “youth culture”. And now that those “youth” run the place, we’re completely screwed.

…could they manage to lose money selling beer at a football game:

The school released the figures to the Associated Press after a records request, which showed it incurred significant expenses from its first season selling alcohol stadium-wide at TCF Bank Stadium. Those include hiring additional police and security officers, setting up tents and other facilities, and equipment rental. Roughly half of its revenues went directly to Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., which had the contract to sell beer and wine.

The booze itself cost the university about $180,000.

This bit here made me wonder if they really focused their spending properly (emphasis added):  

About $30,000 of the school’s expenses were one-time costs to prepare the stadium — from setting up ATMs to buying plants.

Plants?

In conjunction with beer sales?

Isn’t that what urinals are for?

They apparently expect to turn a profit next year.  Not sure if that’s tied with the GoGo football team making the playoffs “next year” or not.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails in re a Pioneer Press piece on last nights’ House Public Safety Committee hearings and the, er, standard of logic on the DFL side:

“If we don’t believe that criminal laws deter people, than I don’t know what purpose all of you exist for here in this room. Because clearly, people do abide by laws,” [Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association boss Dennis] Flaherty said. “And this notion that if we pass this, criminals won’t by abide by it, well that could be said about everything from speeding to virtually every crime you create here in this room.”

Then where is the need for this law? Let’s outlaw gun crimes and let anyone have a gun and just be lawful.

And we can outlaw poverty and ignorance too. And bad breath.

Until you admit the reality that some people DO NOT follow the law, and identify who those people are, you can’t craft a solution to prevent those people from committing gun crimes. Democrats are still in denial. Flaherty is still a moron.

Joe Doakes

Como Park

Flaherty is doing his job – shilling the line of his organization, which is itself a DFL-controlled pressure group as much as a “union”.

I went to the Capitol last night for the House Public Safety Finance Committee hearings on Michael Paymar’s “HF 237”, better known as “The Bad Gun Bill”, a bill rife with nannystate abuse-fodder.

The rest of the story?  It’s got a lot of photos, and I don’t want the entire blog to load like a dog, so the rest of the story is after the jump.

See you there!

(more…)

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

The European Union told Cyprus it had to raise 6 billion Euros in order to get 4 billion more from the EU to bail out its banks. Cyprus waited until banks closed last Friday to announce a “one-time” tax on bank accounts. Accounts with less than 100,000 Euros would pay 6.75%; larger accounts would pay 9.9%, all automatically deducted and sent to Berlin.

The idea is . . . unpopular. Cypriot banks are still closed to avoid massive runs of people trying to grab their money before the government does.

It occurs to me, this isn’t a new concept. Didn’t Larry Pogemiller propose a shift away from income taxes toward net worth taxes about six years ago, in a bid to shift the burden of paying for a Nicer Minnesota away from “working families” over to “wealthy retirees?” I don’t remember the automatic deduction feature in his plan, but the basic idea is the same. In fact, it’s older than that. When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously replied: “Because that’s where the money is.”

To heck with being an outlaw, Willie should have been a government bureaucrat! He was just ahead of his time, is all.

Luckily, that could never happen here. The President might have the Constitutional power to drop Hellfire missiles on unsuspecting Americans, but he can’t just take money out of their bank accounts. He can’t, right? Right?

Joe Doakes

Don’t be silly.

We’re “doing fine”.

To: Sen. Feinstein
From: Mitch Berg, Uppity Peasant
Re: Reid’s Punt

Sen. Feinstein,

Suck it.

That is all.

When the subject is the Second Amendment, the DFL has a long standing pattern of moving committee meetings around, largely to keep non-DFL constituencies from being able to drive in from Greater Minnesota.

And they’re doing it again.

The Public Safety Committee hearing originally scheduled for this morning at 10AM has been pushed to 7 tonight.  Downside; people who made special arrangements to be there this morning – which most of us Second Amendment people have to do to get to these things – are screwed.  They’ll be doing whatever it takes to try to find some bilious rationalization to pass the stupid Paymar bill – supported only by Metrocrat extremists – and ignore the Hilstrom bill, supported by Real Americans on both sides of the aisle.

Good news?  I’ll be there.  And so should you.  Here are the details:  the Real Americans are meeting starting at 5:00 p.m. outside the Room 10 at the State Office Building, just west-southwest of the Capitol. If you can, wear a maroon shirt, or better yet, a GOCRA t-shirt if you have (or can score) one.

And call the committee members.  This info is via GOCRA; they are…:

Representative John Ward (DFL)

651-296-4333

E-mail:rep.john.ward@house.mn

Thank Rep. Ward for his past support of your gun rights and encourage him to resist pressure from metro gun banners.

 

Representative Shannon Savick (DFL)

651-296-8216

E-mail: rep.shannon.savick@house.mn

Rep. Savick is a rural DFLer who needs to be reminded that her constituents will not tolerate new gun control.

 

Representative Steve Simon (DFL)

651-296-9889

E-mail:rep.steve.simon@house.mn

Rep. Simon is a smart, principled lawyer. Remind him that the Supreme Court has affirmed the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right, and that stripping due process doesn’t make us more free or more safe.

 

Representative Brian Johnson (R)

651-296-4346

E-mail: rep.brian.johnson@house.mn

Rep. Johnson is new at the legislature this year, and will be under a lot of pressure to cave to gun control. Tell him to stand firm for our rights.

 

Then, call and email your OWN senator and representative and give them the same message.

 

Good House bill: HF1325 (Hilstrom)

Bad Senate bill: HF237 (Paymar)

 

Good Senate bill: SF1369 (Ortman)

Bad Senate bill: SF458 (Latz)

Rep. Ben Lien (DFL Moorhead) was interviewed about two weeks ago on one of the Fargo TV stations by Fargo talk host Chris Berg (no relation that I know of).

This first question was in re whether Lien would support a business services tax increase (which was at that time on the table, but is putatively off it now):

The answer to the question “would you support these taxes?” from this very red-county Representative would seem to be “I’ll wait until I get my talking points from Alida”.

And asked if he believes Governor Dayton’s attacks on corporations – the idea that they are tax-avoiding sponges that don’t carry their fair share of the state’s tax burden – this one is hilarious:

Citizens of Moorhead – a fairly red place, indeed: what were you thinking?

(View the entire eight minute interview here)

Joe Doakes from Como Park writes:

From the March 19, 2013 Pioneer Press article on Democrats’ e-bingo gamble,

“As of late February, budget planners were forecasting about $1.8 million in tax revenue from charitable gambling in fiscal year 2013 for use on the stadium. Estimates last fall had been about $15 million higher, Massman said.”

Democrats planned to bring in $15 million to pay for the Vikings stadium, but we’re bringing in less than $2 million? What a blunder!

Who could have foreseen it?

Joe Doakes

Como Park

Oh, don’t be silly.  Blogs don’t cover news.

Another Tuesday, another hearing:

VICTORY GOES TO THOSE WHO SHOW UP

Tomorrow (Tuesday, March 19) at 10 a.m., the House Public Safety Committee will hear and vote of HF237, Rep, Paymar’s Punish Gun Owners Act.

We need to show up in large numbers to tell the House members to REJECT the infringing bill and instead hold a vote on Rep. Hilstrom’s Criminal Control bill, HF1325.

Please show up as early as possible for good seats, and wear a maroon shirt (or your GOCRA shirt, if you have one!)

The meeting will be held in Room 10 of the State Office Building.

I can’t make it, but if you’re anywhere near the Capitol I certainly hope you can.  And make sure you join GOCRA – the single most effective advocate in Minnesota for the law-abiding gun owner, and perhaps one of the most powerful grass-roots political organizations in the state.

Senator Dave Osmek (GOP SD33) writes – and I’ll add emphasis:

Here’s a really bad bill: SF271 (Champion). Its not the language in the bill…it’s the repealer. We’re repealing all residency requirements for drivers licenses. Its designed to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Of course, we all know what else you can do with a driver’s license. Vote. Not to mention that a driver’s license is one of the primary forms of ID for an I9 form or getting a passport.

It passed Transportation/Public Safety on a DFL party-line vote. I complained hard about this thing. In talking with one of the more “reasonable” DFLers after the hearing, he said: You’re making too much out of this, Besides, they all vote for US (giggle…giggle).

Remember – it won’t be “election fraud” if it’s perfectly legal by the time of the next election.

With the clocking ticking closer to midnight on his mayoral legacy, Michael Bloomberg is banning as fast as he can.

Fran Drescher

In the era of “Yes, We Can,” Michael Bloomberg has long staked his legacy on “No, You Can’t.”  In the soon-to-be 12 years since he became Gotham’s Technocrat-in-Chief, Bloomberg has managed to ban, or try to ban: (in no particular order):

• Trans fats
• Salt
• Food donations to homeless shelters
• Soft drinks
• Fatty foods (mandatory calorie counters in restaurants)
• Outdoor smoking

Bloomberg’s nanny-ish reach has been so broad that in his waning months he’s repeating himself.  Hizzoner’s latest ban plan?  Hide cigarettes from public view:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pushing for a new citywide law requiring stores to physically conceal cigarettes and other tobacco products behind counters, curtains or cabinets—anywhere out of public view—as part of a new anti-smoking initiative.

The legislation would also increase penalties on the smuggling and illegal sales of cigarettes as part of an effort that Bloomberg said would help curb the youth smoking rate and promote a healthier New York City.

Three out of every five cigarettes smoked in New York City were “smuggled” – purchased over state lines where the $4.35 per pack expense, not counting the additional $1.50 per pack levied in New York City, wasn’t an issue.  So while smoking in New York is at historic lows (14% according to polling in 2011), most of those gains occurred from 2002 to 2007 – before Bloomberg’s more recent tobacco initiatives to ban workplace and outdoor smoking were set in motion.

Bloomberg isn’t likely to receive much push-back to his latest move.  Hitting tobacco is often a political winner and as nanny-state legislation goes, moving tobacco products behind the counter isn’t much of a reach.  Bloomberg’s past comments on tobacco put this latest move to shame, with Bloomberg even suggesting that children have the right to sue their parents if they’re exposed to second-hand smoke.

But Bloomberg’s acknowledgment that his past legislation has made underground tobacco sales Gotham’s latest cottage industry stands in stark contrast with his attitudes on marijuana.  Last June, in concert with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s move to downgrade possession of pot from a misdemeanor to a violation, Bloomberg chimed in that he would “limit” enforcement of New York City laws against marijuana.

So pot’s okay.  But a Big Gulp demands immediate legislation.

But of course, marijuana isn’t tobacco when it comes to the effect on health.  Right?  A 2012 study at the University of Alabama garnered some press for the headline that marijuana wasn’t as bad for your lungs as tobacco.  As usual, the substance of the research was buried by the lede.  Smoking marijuana, the study concurred, leads to chronic coughing, wheezing and potentially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  The study even admitted that longer term research would be required to see what the rate of lung cancer was among long-term pot users.  Or as one quoted researcher simply put it, “casual or recreational marijuana use is not a safe alternative to tobacco smoking.”

By his actions, Bloomberg demonstrates a capricious sense of how to use the bully pulpit of the mayor’s office.  Marijuana restrictions need to be eased because enforcement has not only failed but is as likely to hurt the causal user as the hardcore dealer.  Tobacco restrictions need to be tightened even as Bloomberg acknowledges that his previous efforts have driven demand underground.  Tobacco users, who legally purchase a legal product over state lines need to be taught a lesson.  Marijuana users, who use a product that is currently illegal, are due leniency.

The macro issues of the Drug War aside, at a minimum, Michael Bloomberg has a high threshold for irony.

SCENE:  MITCH is out for drinks with his old friends Inge “Lucky” CARROLL, meme-buffer for the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, and Moonbeam BIRKENSTOCK, spokesbeing for Citizens4Luv, a left-leaning non-profit, and Avery LIBRELLE, progressive activist without opr.

CARROLL: (With three empty Mojito glasses and a full one in front of her) We need to do something about school massacres.

BIRKENSTOCK:  Yes (he says, fanning face with a folded piece of campaign literature), we have to dooooooooooooooo something.

LIBRELLE:  Doooooooooooooooooooooooooooo something!

MITCH: Well, yeah, but “we have to do something” has been the motivation for an endless cavalcade of stupidity leading to a boundless trove of misery over the years.  And let’s be honest; violent crime has been plummeting, and law-abiding gun owners are vastly less likely to commit any kind of crime than the general public.

LIBRELLE: Don’t bother us with details.  We have to ban large AR15 clip bullets and assault handguns!

BIRKENSTOCK: Yes!

MITCH:  Right, right, got that.  So – what do you think about teachers?

BIRKENSTOCK: They are the absolute salt of the earth.

MITCH: Elaborate please?

BIRKENSTOCK: They are not mere professionals.  They are like clergy, drawn to a higher calling, imparting knowledge and skills and good citizenship to our next generation.

CARROLL: That’s right. Teachers are a noble lot, a breed apart, drawn to an often thankless calling, working for 30 year careers at mere middle-class wages before retiring in their mid-fifties, doing one of the most put-upon jobs there is; trying to turn the illiterate children of Minnesota’s stupid and ignorant parents – who are the real problem with our education system – into good citizens.

LIBRELLE:  Hear hear.

MITCH: So all those stories about teachers who diddle their students…

CARROLL:  Oh, for crying out loud. That’s a teeeensy, tiny minority…

BIRKENSTOCK: …an almost insignificantly tiny one at that…

CARROLL: …of people in the profession.

MITCH: Right. So we shouldn’t tar and feather a larger, generally responsible group because of the misdeeds of a relatively small group of miscreants?

CARROLL: That would be the depth of stupidity.

LIBRELLE:  No kidding.  Bigot.

MITCH: Gotcha.  So – just to sum up; teachers are, statistically, good people, utterly trustworthy to be watching over your children?

CARROLL: Absolutely.

LIBRELLE: Unimpeachable.

BIRKENSTOCK: Beyond a doubt.

MITCH:   Good.  So – what do you think about South Dakota’s decision to allow teachers with carry permits, who’ve passed background checks and skills tests and are, thus, statistically 2-3 orders of magnitude safer than the general public, to carry their concealed firearms at school, in the interest of defending their charges from unforeseen violent crime?

CARROLL:  That’s just crazy!

BIRKENSTOCK: Teachers aren’t competent to do that.

LIBRELLE:  If you let teachers carry guns, someday a teacher will shoot a classroom full of their kids!

CARROLL: Teachers just can’t be trusted with that kind of power.

MITCH: I see.

(And SCENE)

It took place in Thailand.

Yep, it was overseas. Do we have many gangs of people roaming cities in packs, looting and pillaging?

Well, not often, but stuff happens.

Just saying; if that bar owner had been limited to seven rounds or less, he and his innocent customers might well know what deli meat feels like.

I shot this video on a recent tour of Senator Ron Latz’s office at the Capitol in Saint Paul:

That explains a lot.

(more…)

You need to get in contact with Senators Lyle Koenen, Kent Eken, Dan Sparks, Tom Saxhaug and LeRoy Stumpf to keep them firm on supporting the Hilstrom/Ortman bill.

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network – America’s first grass-roots talkradio show – brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism, as the Twin Cities media’s sole source of honesty!

• I’m back!  I’ll have House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt on to talk about the Health Insurance Exchange bill, among other things – and then Senator Julianne Ortman and I will talk about the dueling gun bills in the Legislature.
• Brad Carlson is back on “The Closer” from 1-3 tomorrow.  Tune on in!

(All times Central)

So tune in to all four hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of honest news. You have so many options:

• AM1280 in the Metro
• Streaming at AM1280’s Website,
• On Twitter (the Volume 2 show will use hashtag #narn2)
• Check out our new UStream video and chat  – hopefully.
• Send us an SMS text message – 651-243-0390
• Good ol’ telephone – 651-289-4488!
• Podcasts are now available; for my show and for Brad’s
• And make sure you fan us on our new Facebook page!

Join us!

…usually pick me up.

But not today.  Caught a bit of a bug.  I’ll be a little light on the output today.

Have a great Friday!

Governor Messinger Dayton famously appeared at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

And boy, did he give ’em what-for!

Gov. Dayton told a stunned luncheon audience that Minnesota is among the best places for business in the country, contrary to the Chamber’s message.

He said government spending is right in the middle, and that the state’s tax rank is dropping.

Dayton said he never heard the same criticism when Republican Tim Pawlenty was governor for eight years, and he asked his staff to investigate.

“And we could not find a single instance of the chamber calling for spending reforms during those eight years,” Dayton said. “Evidently, in your view, spending reform is needed only when a Democrat is governor.”

Messinger Dayton also said he was sticking firm to his promise to hike taxes on “the rich” (meaning “successful entrepreneurs and professionals who didn’t have the foresight or the fiscal and legal clout to move their money to dynasty trusts in South Dakota”, as opposed to, say, him).

A couple of observations:

Gov. Dayton told a stunned luncheon audience that Minnesota is among the best places for business in the country, contrary to the Chamber’s message.

He said government spending is right in the middle, and that the state’s tax rank is dropping.

Dayton said he never heard the same criticism when Republican Tim Pawlenty was governor for eight years, and he asked his staff to investigate.

“And we could not find a single instance of the chamber calling for spending reforms during those eight years,” Dayton said. “Evidently, in your view, spending reform is needed only when a Democrat is governor.”

A few observations:

Governor Whinypants:  Business never complained about spending on Pawlenty’s watch?   Huh?

During the first term, business complained about things like “health impact fees” – stealth taxes framed as compromises with the DFL in a legislature he didn’t completely control.  Just ask Sue Jeffers.   On the other hand, he generally held the line on taxes, pursuant to his pledge to the Taxpayers League.

During the second?  Pawlenty was faced with a wastrel DFL legislature; business rightly figured he was the last line of defense against the sort of pillaging the Messinger Dayton Administration and the Legislature have in mind.

And they were right then, and they’re right now.

Profiles In Leadership:  This is leadership?  “If you don’t see things my way you’re a poopyhead?”

Reverting To Stereotype: Conservatives pillory liberals for being innumerate, having  stunted knowledge of economics outside of Paul Krugman’s ravings – the type who think raising the minimum wage cures poverty.

It’s on stories like this that you realize; the stereotype exists for a reason. .

Dave Mindeman at mnpACT put it a little differently, by way of cheering Governor Messinger Dayton on in a piece titled “To the Chamber of Commerce: SHOVE IT” in a flight of Oscar Wilde-like whimsy..:

So Dayton dropped the sales tax proposal with the caveat that his increased income tax on higher income earners would go forward.

But they object to that as well.

“Hey, we left your top line alone, more or less; you can’t complain if we attack your bottom line, now, can you?”

They continue to promote the addage that this tax will affect small business…and yes, here we go, the “job creators”. They continue this argument even though the Department of Revenue has shown that only 6% of small business would be affected. And again, we are only talking about the highest portions of their income. If they are making substantially more than $250,000, why the huge objection to paying some back to a state that has benefitted you greatly?

I can see Messinger’s Dayton’s disconnect; she he has never worked, and has no concept of what business is about.  Not sure where Mindeman comes at it from, and I’m not sure that it matters.

Messinger Dayton is daring business to pick up and leave.

She He doesn’t think they will.

I imagine we’ll find out sooner than later.

Death came to me the other day as I was shopping for crackers.

No, not in the whole black robe and scythe get-up.  In fact, he looked a little bit like a Ryan Winker speech sounds.

But I digress.  We started talking.

DEATH: OK, so how about “death”?  Whatdya think?

ME:  Well, I’ll choose life, if I have any say in the matter.

DEATH:  Right, right.  No problem.  I’m all about the “win-win” – well, as long as I’m not walking around in the robes, naturally.

ME: Naturally.

DEATH: So how about a compromise.  We take “death” off the table, and settle for a concussion and a toxic intestinal infection?

ME:  Er…that’s not much of a compromise…

———-

This past week and a half, Representatives Paymar and Martens Hausman introduced stupid, oppressive, constitutionally likely-dodgy gun grab bills.  Think “death”.

In response, Representative Hilstrom and Senator Ortman filed good gun bills – bills that ratchet up the consequences for mis-using firearms.  Think “life”.

In response to the public revulsion at the Paymar/Hausman/Stalin bill and the legislative juggernaut behind the Good Gun Bill, Senator Ron Latz – the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, who has been trying to position himself as “reasonable” on the issue for some time – has introduced a head injury and a toxic infection of a “compromise” amendment to the Senate gun grab bill .

Latz’ bill would take most of the provisions of the Hilstrom/Hortman bill, and plop in all of the worst features of the Paymar/Hausman/Stalin gun grab bills.

According to GOCRA, the “compromise” bill would bring us:

Universal Registration:

These bills would require universal registration of pistols and sporting rifles, implemented through a “universal” background check, — twice: The bills would require every sale of such guns to go through a licensed dealer, who would charge $25 per transfer. These transfers would still require a permit to purchase, for which the House bill would charge you another $25 annually.

 

Rights Delayed

The bills extend the time that sheriffs and police have to process a purchase permit from five to seven business days, and allow the law enforcement official to fingerprint the applicant and extend the deadline to 30 days.

 

Easier Carry Permit Denials

The bad bills would allow sheriffs the judgement to deny a carry permit on the basis of a subjective “likelihood” that the applicant was dangerous.

More Difficult Carry Permit Appeals

The bad bills positively encourage abusive denials: they remove the sheriffs’ obligation to pay an applicant’s legal fees when a permit denial is overturned — a safeguard that has kept sheriffs departments honest, and bogus denials fairly low, for almost 10 years. The Sheriff’s Association has not asked for this unfair reversal of law.

The bad bills also lower the sheriffs’ standard of proof of danger to self or other others from “clear and convincing evidence” to the mere “preponderance of the evidence.”

Due Process Protections Gutted

The bad bills would remove legal protections against losing your firearm rights. Currently, before you lose your right to own a firearm, you must be convicted or committed by a court. Under the new bill, any involuntary hospitalization, even overnight, would disqualify you from owning guns indefinitely.

Making The Law Abiding Into Convicts

The bad bills set a very low standard of proof for conviction of serious gun crimes, using the phrase “knows or has reason to believe” to convict sellers who reports a gun stolen, or who sell a gun to a person who later commits a crime.

More Difficult Civil Rights Restoration

The bad bills increase the difficulty and expense for a person who has paid their debt to society to regain their civil rights.

Intersting how the DFL wants felons to be able to vote while they’re still in jail, but never have a chance of getting their Second Amendment rights back.

Hearings Tonight!

The Senate is holding hearings on both the Good Gun Bill and Latz’ bill – I’ll call it The Polished Turd, since that’s about what it is – tonight.  Hope you can make it.

And keep on lighting up the phones at the Capitol, especially for members of the House and Senate committees involved.  Sources at the Capitol tell me your efforts are making a difference.  It’s not even close; pro-Second Amendment traffic from Real Americans is crushing commentary from nannystate orcs.  This needs to continue, and accelerate.  

Go here for more information.

Ask and you shall receive.

Earlier today, I urged the Senate GOP to get up and get behind Rep. Deb Hilstrom’s gun bill, which I call “The Good Gun Bill”.

About an hour ago, Senator Julianne Ortman introduced a companion bill in the Senate (SF 1359).

The bill has the same objectives as Hilstrom’s bill in the House:

• Cracks down on “Straw Purchases”
• Improves the state’s data reporting to its own background checks and the Feds’ “NICS” system.
• Improves Reporting of court records showing ineligibility to own guns due to mental health reasons – and creates the state’s first process for people to get their rights restored.
• Clamps down on felons and repeat criminals who use guns to commit violent crimes.

And it does all this without addressing, much less infringing, the rights of the law-abiding gun owner.

My opinion – and it’s just my opinion?  The GOP needs to get behind this.  A lot of legislators – including a few outstate DFLers – have put a lot on the line to defy their party’s Metrocrat inner circle.  In this case, DFL Senators Lyle Koenen, Kent Eken, Dan Sparks, Tom Saxhaug and LeRoy Stumpf have gone against the Metrocrats.  This is a good thing (and having David Hann, Senator Warren Limmer, Senator David Osmek, Senator DaveThompson, Senator Jeremy Miller, Senator Julie Rosen, Senator David Brown, SenatorBranden Petersen, Senator Dan Hall, Senator David Senjem, Senator Roger Chamberlain,Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, Senator Bill Weber, Senator Eric Pratt, Senator Michelle Benson,and Senator Paul Gazelka on board isn’t chicken feed).

The Sheriff’s Association, likewise, has reversed its usual behavior, and is supporting the law-abiding gun owner; this behavior needs to be reinforced with support and success.

The Good Gun Bill is good politics.  The GOP in the legislature needs to do this.

UPDATE:  Here’s Senator Ortman’s press release:

Media Release – Ortman – Gun Crime Enforcement Proposal – SF 1359 (2013)

Because it’s never too early to start the campaign season.

Former Sen. Norm Coleman’s announcement last week that he would forgo a challenge to incumbent Gov. Mark Dayton may be remembered in hindsight as the starting gun for the 2014 election cycle in Minnesota.  With Democrats holding all the offices of note, the only real interest among political junkies is which Republicans will make bids for statewide office.  Having only won two cycles in the past decade (2002 & 2010), the GOP cupboard is sparse, with many of the party’s once rising stars now out of office.

So who’s left to run for governor in 2014?  In the spirit of the upcoming NCAA Tournament, we’ve made our brackets (sort of) and started the ball rolling towards months of endless chatter on who should or could lead the MN GOP out of the statewide office wilderness: (more…)