Shut Down

Well, the MN state government is shut down, whatever that means. Dem Governor Dayton, pop-eyed crazoid that he is, refused to compromise with the Repub state houses and for the want of (last I heard) closing a $38 million dollar gap in plans, the vast Inefficiency Engine that is MN state government is shut down.

Basically it boiled down to Dayton wanting to increase spending (by ridiculous amounts) and raise taxes to pay for it, and the repubs wanting to close the state deficit and decrease spending to pay for it. The details are detaily but that's the gist of it. And of course, republicans are making their stand because they're bad people that want to do bad things.

I know it's early, but so far I'm okay with it.

Dodged A Bullet There..

Glad I've moved out of CT.....

A bill introduced in the Connecticut General Assembly (Raised Bill Number 1094) by anti-gun state Sen. Martin Looney (D) would ban the possession of any magazine (rifle, pistol or shotgun) capable of holding more than 10 rounds. If this bill passes, law-abiding gun owners will have to begin surrendering their magazines by July, or face confiscation by the state police and a felony charge. Again, this proposal would not only ban the sale of these magazines, but would make simple possession a felony.  Any gun owner found in possession of any magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds will be in violation of this proposed law, regardless of whether it was legally purchased.

This draconian measure will also affect non-gun owners as all Connecticut tax payers will be forced to foot the bill for the extraordinary process of having police confiscate -- from law-abiding citizens -- the millions of magazines already in the state.

Making matters worse, manufacturers including Colt, C Products, Mec-Gar, OKAY Industries and Metalform will be directly affected by this legislation. That means a loss of jobs and tax revenue to the state.

Arbitrarily limiting magazine capacity and threatening law-abiding gun owners with confiscation and felony charges is beyond the pale. These magazines are utilized every day for home defense and the shooting sports. As part of the 1994 "Assault Weapons" ban, the production of higher capacity magazines was halted. This gun-control strategy soon proved to be a failure. A comprehensive study by the Centers for Disease Control -- hardly a pro-gun entity -- looked at the full panoply of gun-control measures, including this ban, and concluded that none could be proven to reduce crime. Another study, commissioned by Congress, found that bans were not effective since "the banned weapons and magazines were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders."

Barum Harum Hoom Hom Hroom

2am, looks like the MN House and Senate are safely R, but the Governorship will go to a recount, and recounts in Dem-controlled states result in Dem wins.

So Emmer goes down to Dayton, the cowardly alcoholic pop-eyed creepy guy. And my next governor.

Yay me.

Sorry folks, we tried.

Hoom Hom

Weird.

Looks like Minnesota will have a Republican Governor AND a Republican house/senate come tomorrow.

Barring recounts run by Democrat Sec State Mark Ritchie, of course.

Senator Clown Shoes

Minnesota. Senator. Al. Franken.

Ugh.

Just once I'd like to see or hear of a close election where Democrats don't keep "finding" new votes in cars, warehouses, and the like. Or where recount parameters are applied uniformly.

Six years of shame begins today.

You Can Have My Pepperoni When You Pry It From My Cold Dead Hands

The Washington D.C. City Council has officially run out of crime fighting ideas.

The latest proposal to cut down on violence involves banning pizza joints that attract a late night crowd.

Instead of asking the cops to put criminals in jail, or having police officers patrolling the city, DC Councilman Jim Graham wants to ban jumbo slice pizza.

Democrat Party councilman Jim Graham says the late-night “Jumbo Slice” pizza shacks operating on the popular Adams Morgan club and bar strip in Ward 1 attract the element that is likely to commit crime.

“Even though it’s a legal business and everything, they have become a nuisance,” Graham said. “Behaving the way they do in terms of music, in terms of letting people hang out and also in terms of tolerating a certain level of violence.”

I'm not usually at a loss to express exactly how idiotic something is, but Jim Graham has defeated me.

Assuming this measure passes, I guarantee that the late-night crowd will move over to cheap Chinese restaurants, or the new Pork-Chop-On-A-Stick Franchise, or the whatever muck and lard is available to violent drunkards after midnight.

I assume the intrepid Councilman Graham will be ready with another stern measure, forbidding the citizens of DC to eat latkes or sate or hamburgers after the bars close. Eventually if Jim gets his way, it will be illegal to eat outside at night, and then, finally the citizens of Washington DC will be safe.

Another Two Bite The Dust (UPDATE: Now It's Three!) (UPDATE 2: I'm Wrong!)

Now Freeman's been blown out an airlock, and good riddance.

But what a pitiful performance so far by the weak and clearly not ready for prime time President Obama. He picks cabinet potentials like a stripper picks boyfriends.

Any moment now he's going to ask America to leave him alone so he can just eat his waffle.
---------------------------

Bah! I should know better than to post while on the phone. Freeman wasn't a cabinet appointee, and the guy that picked him, DNI Blair, isn't a cabinet level guy either. Still a lame pick for the team overall, but not something I can place in the President's pocket. Minus 50 points for Gryffindor.

I'm Not a Captain of Industry, But I play One On TV

Gee whillickers, the President of the United States just decided how much some business heads could get paid.

Anyone else feel a cold shiver go up their spine?

From Townhall.com:

President Barack Obama on Wednesday imposed $500,000 caps on senior executive pay for the most distressed financial institutions receiving federal bailout money, saying Americans are upset with "executives being rewarded for failure."

Obama announced the dramatic new government intervention into corporate America at the White House, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side.

Now as I recall, a lot of people, including a lot of journowhores in the "media", think that people who support the Iraq War but have never served in the nation's armed forces are "chickenhawks". Since Obama has never held a job in the private sector and is now directing payroll decisions for the private sector, doesn't that make him a "bogusmogul" of some sort?

Obviously the above has far-reaching consequences and depths of meaning to anyone who dislikes socialism and statism, but it also has a good side. Because I'm an American, and I'm a little upset that Odalys Garcia hasn't offered to be my sweet patootie. Well, here in Obamatopia, I don't know Ms. Garcia, I'm willing to bet the President doesn't know Ms. Garcia, and I'm pretty sure it's business of neither of ours who she picks to be her sweet patootie.

So I figure I'm in. Howdy Odalys!

Well, That Didn't Take Long...

The gun-fearing wussies of CT are at it again.

As your read this, keep in mind that these folks totally support your 2nd Ammendment rights. They just don't want you to be able to buy guns, ammunition, or have any place to shoot.

There is proposed legislation that would require shooting ranges in CT to register with the Department of Public Safety, which could arbitrarily set the standards by which the ranges would be allowed to remain open.

That in turn means that some bureaucrats in Hartford can shut down your shooting range if they decide that "guns are bad." This is anti-gun, anti-2nd Ammendment legislation masquerading as "common sense" safety regulation.

Right now there aren't any state laws or regulations for shooting ranges, which probably scares people who like to think that government regulations are the solution to all problems.

But I'd like to point out a couple pertinent statistics:

Number of injuries or deaths in CT from bullets fired at CT shooting ranges: 0.

Over the last 75 years, the number of firearm owners has more than doubled, nationally.

During the same period, the annual number of accidental shootings has declined by 77 percent, and the years 1995 -2005 saw a 40% decline, according to the National Safety Council.

Maybe the government of CT should spend its time worrying about the financial crisis or something instead of legislating away problems that don't exist.

Senate Seat, Senate Seat, Who's Got the Senate Seat?

I'll admit my political morale is pretty broken. First having to accept McCain as the Republican nominee, then having think of good things to say about him, then watching him coast to a handy defeat at the hands of a neophyte radical lefty. And in two days this Chicago machine clown will touch Lincoln's Bible upon his swearing-in.

It's been a rough few months.

But at least I knew the worst couldn't happen, and that Al Franken, the unfunniest funnyman since Richard Belzer, simply couldn't really become a Senator from my state. "Isn't it bad enough" I wouldn't have to wail to the gods of representation, "that my actual Congressman is a liberal jagoff who thinks his first term in office is a great time to go on his little Haj to Mecca and have it paid for by a group that was founded by, and is essentially an American chapter of, the Muslim Brotherhood?"

(I'd stress the fact that he also initially lied about having paid for it himself, but lies from politicians never seem to really bother liberals so I've made a Resolution to stop yapping about simple things like lying to the public.)

But alas, in the second phase of the post-election mishmash that we Minnesotans have enjoyed over the past few months, Franken's vote margin, abley and eagerly assisted by the Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, has swung from a couple hundred downish to a couple hundred uppish. And it's sat like a late-night Taco Bell mistake in my belly. But there seems to be some hope, hopefully not illusory and desperate:

Says Ron Carey of Townhall.com:

"Why, if they claim to have a lead, are they so desperately anxious to put Al Franken in a Senate seat?

Simple: They know Norm Coleman is going to win the election contest. And here’s why:

Norm Coleman won on election night and he continued to lead throughout the administrative canvassing process that followed. In the next stage – the administrative recount – Minnesota law restricted what the state Canvassing Board could consider, and in the end the Board certified numbers that are premature, inaccurate and not valid."

I really, really hope he's right, and that I'm not simply whistling past that graveyard. Because come on, Jesse Ventura and then Franken? What's wrong with the enfranchised in my chosen home state?

Ballots, Ballots, Who's Got the Ballots?

I should be well-pleased with the Election Day results in Minnesota, really. No one could have reasonably hoped for a McCain win in MN (although I was one of the unreasonables for a while there), and the House races went pretty well. And Coleman was expected to have tough competition from Spazoid Franken.

But seriously. 206 votes? That's it? And isn't it strange that with every passing day they "find" more ballots for Franken? Heck, the other day they found 32 of them in someone's car. Coleman said Hey, let's not count those because, you know, it's silly and against all the concepts of ballot security and integrity.

But, oh no, they counted them. And shockingly, most of them were for Dear Mister Franken.

Maybe they'll just pull the obvious like the Dems did in Washington state in 2004 on Rossi and just "find" a box of ballots, after a week or so, in a warehouse, that puts his opponent on top. And then declare the confusion over.

Hell, at least we get a full recount. Maybe someone will keep an eye out for more magic ballots because, seriously.

Al Franken? Like a veteran (i.e. not me) blogger here in MN has written, the only thing Franken ever said that made me laugh was in his1980 SNL "Al Franken Decade" skit. 1980 was a long time ago.

Al Franken?