Is Pam Geller too provocative?

Geller – a long-time critic, it’s fair to say, of radical Islam and a fair chunk of the rest of Islam as well – has long been a lightning rod for the Political Correctness police, which isn’t in and of itself a bad thing.  I do think she goes to excessive pains to antagonize Islam.

So, naturally, does the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which may have existed for a good reason at one point, but today serves mostly as the supreme procurator of the PC Police.

Of course, Geller doesn’t go to nearly the pains that Chris “VIrgin Mary rendered in Elephant Dung” Ofili or Andres “Piss Christ” Serrano or Peter “Let’s Allow Abortions Through Age 1” Singer went to antagonize Christians, naturally.

And Ofili and Serrano’s days in the artistic sun came and went before the Internet suffused all of American culture, it’s not a stretch to believe that some keyboard commando, somewhere, threatened them.  And I’m sure Singer – still a professor, naturally – gets some utterly rhetorical abuse.

But last I checked, they’re all alive.  And no gangs of Christian thugs burst into their respective “art” exhibits or “classes” and handed down the mayhem.

But Garland was one of many bloody attacks in the past decade on people who regard Mohammed with the same irreverence most Westerners approach God.

And they were the second planned shooting that used the SPLC’s list of “hate groups” as a hit list.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

What a load of sexist, paternalistic, offensive, male-centric lies.

Why won’t men marry American women? First, why buy the cow when you get the milk for free? And second, palimony is cheaper than divorce.

In other words, men are acting in their own long-term interest, as if women were fully capable of being strong, independent people.

Bastards.

Joe Doakes

My two cents worth: men are responding to a generation of being treated like optional accessories.

In recent weeks, we’ve spoken of the plague of Second Amendment activists who believe that by putting all of our effort into Constitutional Carry – making all state gun laws equal to Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, Arizona and Kansas – we’ll solve all our problems.

Note:  this works only in thoroughly libertarian-conservative states like Kansas, Alaska, Wyoming and Arizona, or places with ornery shooting traditions like Vermont.

How counterproductive would it be in a more purplish state, like Minnesota?

Well, in Minnesota, the Human Rights movement focused mostly on passing practical, attainable legislation (like the Omnibus Public Safety bill, which needs your support).

How about Colorado?  Formerly a red state, now pretty much sickly purple and likely to keep sliding, the legislative movement to repeal the post-Sandy-hook magazine restrictions (Coloradans are limited to 15 rounds) faced an uphill battle at best.

Enter “Rocky Mountain Gun Owners” – affiliates of the same “National Association of Gun Rights” that is also the parent for the controversial “Minnesota Gun Rights”, as well as similar groups in Iowa, Mississippi and Kansas.   RMGO joined with the anti-gun Bloombergers in opposing a public safety omnibus bill that would have repealed the magazine ban.

How did that work?

How do you think?

RMGO and NAGR stomped their feet and demanded full Constitutional Carry, from a legislature that’s controlled by anti-gun Democrats, and will likely remain that way for some time.

The problem with these groups is that playing checkers very loudly is no substitute for knowing how to play chess.

Much more on this in coming weeks.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

Democrats keep telling me how easy it is to buy guns, easier than buying fresh vegetables.

I have cash. I’m a willing buyer. How do I find one of those sellers?

I’m not worried about the background check – I could pass – I just want to buy one of those “off-the-street” pistols all the cool kids have.

I presume the sellers are mostly criminals. Sadly, I spend all my time around bureaucrats. I’m like those guys in “Office Space” trying to find a money-launderer . . . I don’t know any criminals, or even where to look for them.

Any SITD readers know any criminals looking to make a quick buck selling me a pistol for cash? Or I’d take an assault rifle, if that’s more convenient. Either one.

Joe Doakes

I wish some of the puling lower vertebrates that make these claims – like Heather Martens – would actually go out with a video camera and try to prove it.

That would be pretty interesting.

When I first saw this illustration…:

… I thought for a brief moment that there was an event that involved bicyclists chasing after fleeing packs of terrified runners through the streets of Minneapolis.

Upon further reading, I see it’s just a duathlon.

Opportunity lost.

Sign the MNGOPAC petition for Governor Dayton to sign the Omnibus Public Safety bill.

Here’s info on the Sandpiper Pipeline and CFACT.

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network – America’s first grass-roots talk radio show – is on the air! I will be on from 1-3PM today!

Today on the show,

• Paul Driessen Will talk with us about Warren Buffett’s involvement in shutting down the proposed Sandpiper pipeline)

Don’t forget – King Banaian is on from 9-11AM on AM1570, and Brad Carlson has “The Closer” edition of the NARN Sundays from 1-3PM.

So tune in the Northern Alliance! You have so many options:

• AM1280 in the Metro
• Streaming at AM1280’s Website
• Streaming on IHeartRadio
• On Twitter (the Volume 2 show will use hashtag #narn2)
• Via my UStream video and chat channel.
• 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!

SCENE:  Mitch BERG is ordering a Banh Mi sandwich at iPho on University.  Avery LIBRELLE enters the store.

LIBRELLE:  Hey, Merg!   After four years, Minnesota’s economy is rocking under Mark Dayton, while Wisconsin is sucking pond water!

BERG:  How do you figure?

LIBRELLE:  Minnesota has a $2 Billion surplus

BERG:  Right.  After raising taxes by…$2 Billion.  Now, if the economy is humming along, you’d think that the surplus would be bigger than the tax increase, now, wouldn’t you?

LIBRELLE:  At least Minnesota has a surplus!

BERG:  Right – apparetly, entirely due to the tax hikes.  In the meantime, Wisconsin is headed toward a surplus without the need for tax hikes – or, as we call it, a sustainable surplus.

LIBRELLE:  Yeah, but our economy is still better!

BERG:   Most of Minnesota’s growth is in metro-area medical, medical device, insurance and financial services companies – the ones that benefitted from Obamacare and “Too Big to Fail” stimuli.  Things aren’t nearly as rosy in Greater Minnesota.  In the meantime, Wisconsin’s growth is being held back by the slow manufacturing sector – which is a much bigger share of Wisconsin’s economy than Minnesota’s, and isn’t doing all that well here, either.

LIBRELLE:  If Minnesota had elected Tom Emmer governor in 2010, we’d be in the same boat!

BERG:  Right.  We’d have two economies being dragged down by Democrat policies.

LIBRELLE:  What?

BERG:  The parts of Wisconsin that are dragging the state’s economy are the ones that have been run by Democrats for generations.  The decay of Milwaukee’s manufacturing base is the state’s biggest economic problem.

LIBRELLE:  Hah!  But in Minnesota, it’s the Democrat-run cities that are winning…

BERG:  …as a result of national Democrat probrams to transfer wealth from consumers to banks and health insurance companies.

LIBRELLE:  You should issue a rape trigger warning.

BERG:  Clearly.

…of racial violence, campus sexual assault, and the Kardashians.

Why?

Just a hunch.

While legalizing firearm suppressors has gotten most of the attention this legislative session, I think the most vital part of the Public Safety Omnibus bill is Rep. Newberger’s “Katrina Bill”, which would bar the state government from confiscating citizens’ firearms during a state of emergency.

How important is this?  As we speak, in Maryland, the government is clamping down on the availability of ammunition…

…which is another way of making civilian firearms useless.  Of course, during Hurricane Katrina, the local police went door-to-door, confiscating firearms.  Current Minnesota law allows the state governnment even more-onerous leeway than Maryland law.

And a quick note to the “Minnesota” gun groups that advocate focusing only on “Constitutional Carry”; even if that were to pass, it wouldn’t affect state emergency powers.

This bill needs to pass.