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Well it’s almost that communist holiday of May Day yet again. And you know what that means. Illegal criminals aliens come out of the shadows throw their yearly temper tantrum and demand the entire world be handed to them. They’ll demand that despite the fact that they don’t bother to follow the laws anyway, that the laws should be written they way they want them. They’ll claim that they’re being mistreated, even though they put themselves in this position with full knowledge of how it was going to be. And despite our entreaties to remove them from their supposedly wretched life by sending them home, they’ll gnash and thrash to remain and demand more handouts.

As usual Minnesota will not be spared this yearly temper tantrum. I’ve been trying to find details on this years protests and they were only just announced today. It’s pretty obvious that the organization of these rallies gets worse and worse every year.

Anyway, for those of you interested, here are the details :

Thursday, May 1st, 2008
March for Illegal Immigrant & Leeches Workers “Rights”
2:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Start at 2:00 pm at Kellogg & Robert St, Saint Paul, MN Arrive at State Capital for rally at 4:00 pm, this rally will last two hours.

In their words :

May 1 is international workers day. Join us for a march and rally in St. Paul for immigrant & workers rights. There will be rallies in cities all over the U.S. and the world on May 1. Lets make the rally here in the Twin Cities one of the biggest!

Stop the Raids & Deportations!
Immediate & Unconditional Legalization for All!

Well they neglect to note that it’s a communist holiday….although “international worker” is a well known euphemism for that. And of course they forget to mention that the people they are supposedly demanding “rights” for are criminals.

I’ve attended the last few of these just to take pictures. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do it this year, so if anyone else does and they want the pictures published on the internet, feel free to contact me and I’ll post them for you.

Al Franken sure has had a rough couple weeks. Seems he’s forgotten to pay taxes in about half the states in this country. And that’s after he got busted for not paying workmen’s compensation insurance for his employees. And that’s following his dubious involvement in money being stolen from the Boys&Girls Club so that Air America could stay afloat.

This guy that apparently is completely incapable of managing money of any sort, now wants you to elect him to a position to handle your tax money?? Wow, that’s some serious suspension of reason.

Now darn near every blogger in the MOB has been commenting on this story, although credit should be given to MDE and the Lady Logician for really going to town with this issue. Given everything that has happened it could be easy to label this the fatal blow. But I don’t think so…the local DFL doesn’t care about this sort of stuff and they’ve proven adept at wordsmithing this type of stuff into a public Chewbacca defense.

However, I do think this is probably the final key that will reveal his REAL flaw to the public…..namely Franken’s infamous out of control temper. Just imagine people attempting to corner Franken on this issue everywhere he goes, he’ll blow his top eventually and in a very public manner. The US public puts up with a lot from our politicians, we’re used to useless arrogant jerks….but out of control tempers is something we usually don’t tolerate….and it’ll be Franken’s downfall.

Recently John Hawkins of Right Wing News had the chance to ask McCain a question regarding immigration. Basically the question was the one that many have asked. The public says they don’t trust the feds to secure the border before a pathway to citizenship, you say you’ve heard them, how do you intend to proceed if you’re president.

The answer is not exactly satisfying…

As the recent immigration debate demonstrated, Americans have little trust that their government will honor a pledge to do the things necessary to make our border secure. As president, I will honor that pledge by securing the border, thus strengthening our national security. I will also require that, among other things, border-state governors certify that the border is secure before proceeding to other reform measures. However, I also believe that our immigration system must recognize that America will always be that “shining city upon a hill,” a beacon of hope and opportunity for those seeking a better life built on hard work and optimism. Once we achieve border security, we must ensure that we approach our remaining immigration challenges with constructive dialogue and solutions that reflect a compassionate approach and the needs of our economy.

Wow….what a ingenious piece of political backtalking BS.

Let’s pull apart this cleverly worded answer shall we??

As the recent immigration debate demonstrated, Americans have little trust that their government will honor a pledge to do the things necessary to make our border secure. As president, I will honor that pledge by securing the border, thus strengthening our national security.

First of all, you’re right, the public does not trust their government to take the actions necessary to secure out border. And unfortunately, you are one of the reasons we have no trust in the federal government to do anything. So you becoming President doesn’t change anything. We’re simply trading one open borders President for another. Nothing changes and still nobody will trust the federal government to do anything.

Bush and lettucehead Chertoff have both claimed they’ll secure the border, and has anything been done?? No. The only meaningful progress that has been made has been made because the states took responsibility and did the job Bush, Chertoff and the rest of the federal government is clearly incapable of doing.

I will also require that, among other things, border-state governors certify that the border is secure before proceeding to other reform measures.

Ok in almost every discussion of federal vs states, I’ll come down on the side of state’s right 99% of the time. However, this is a case that clearly is constitutionally mandated to the federal government. It is not the state’s responsibility to secure the border or babysit the federal government while they do it.

Plus let’s take a look at the sourthern border state governors. California has Schwarzneggar, New Mexico has Bill Richardson, Arizona has Janet Napolitano, and Texas has Rick Perry. All four of them are open-borders supporters.

Even setting those aside, let’s say all the states but Arizona chose to really lock down the border. Arizona on the other hand is okay with just putting a large “Please Stay Out, Pretty Please…Unless You Really Want To” sign on the border and calling that good enough. Is anything solved?? No, the border is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Illegals will flow in through that open corridor and eventually spread to other states.

A secure border is not the opinion of half a dozen souls. It is an objective pass/fail criteria.

Plus, the above statement could be interpreted that he would not allow employer enforcement until the border is secure. It’s certainly one of the other methods of reform necessary. That would certainly be a shame to have real reform obstructed just because our new President is bitter he got slapped down last time he tried to impose his will on the people.

However, I also believe that our immigration system must recognize that America will always be that “shining city upon a hill,” a beacon of hope and opportunity for those seeking a better life built on hard work and optimism.

I don’t think you’ll find a single border enforcement activist who disagrees with you on that note. But I suspect it means something entirely different to you. While you focus only on the “seeking a better life”, the rest of us look at the entire statement.

Yes, this country is the “shining city upon a hill”, but please explain to me how importing the worst of the garbage dump down the street, improves that shining city?? If those coming here were really interested in hard work, they would go through our legal immigration system. If they really wanted to come here for a better life, they would seek to do so openly and in such a way as they could freely enjoy our shining city.

Instead, the ones you seek to grant amnesty come her as little more than a leach on the system, which in large enough numbers will overwhelm that shining city on a hill. As proof of this, I present Exhibit A, Europe. Granted they weren’t so much the shining city on a hill…..more a quaint village at the crossroads, but it has quickly overwhelmed them. Our shining city is not immune to the same.

Once we achieve border security, we must ensure that we approach our remaining immigration challenges with constructive dialogue and solutions that reflect a compassionate approach and the needs of our economy.

The needs of our economy?? That’s laughable. This coming from the same man that tried to amnesty en masse 12 million people regardless of their benefit to our economy. Which if the actions of various states is any indicator, their net benefit is negligible at best.

And compassionate? Where is the compassion in driving down wages?? In overwhelming education and health systems to the point that existing citizens are stuck with a second rate care and service??

Nice try McCain…

Next time you’ll want to try harder. And remember that your past actions tell us a lot more about you than your current words do. Talk is cheap, and with the level of bullshit you shovel, it’s damn near free.

My suggestion, try harder.

[Crossposted at True North]

….at according to Congress. Some Democratic Senators, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have introduced a resolution in the Senate declaring it resolved that John Sidney McCain III is a natural born citizen (S. Res. 511). This is important since the Constitution says, in Article II, section 1, clause 4:

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

However, the Constitution never defines “natural born citizen”. However, since McCain was born on a military base in a US territory and he has never held a citizenship other than American, it has generally been accepted that he qualifies.

So I guess that’s why this is a little perplexing and I have to admit to being a little confused. There has been no real controversy on whether McCain qualifies. Neither of his possible opponents have so much as mentioned it even in an offhand manner, as far as I am aware. The media gave it some coverage several months ago, however, it was more as a curiosity type story presented in a “heh it’s a slow news cycle let’s blab about this” manner.

So since there seems to be evidence supporting his eligibility and nobody has sought to question it, why the resolution?? Especially considering that it is very doubtful that a Congressional Resolution would carry zero weight, since this would be more a constitutional issue than a legal one. If this issue had to be addressed, the Supreme Court would almost certainly have to address it rather than Congress.

I’m not sure if this is a feeble attempt to bring attention to an issue just to cast some doubt on McCain, or if these is just a misguided measure to…..well, I’m not sure which. Either way, the fact that both Democratic candidates are co-sponsors raises the eyebrows a little more.

Sure it will be framed as a bi-partisan (even though only Democrats have signed onto it) attempt put aside the issue entirely and take the high road on it. However, since it hasn’t even been an issue and probably wouldn’t unless the Democrats made an issue of it, I see that as being a rather thin cover story.

What that boils out to be I’m not sure….

An excellent update from Rep. Buesgens regarding the Central Corridor:

The Governor vetoed a $70 million bonding provision for a part of the $900 million Central Corridor light rail line connecting Minneapolis to St. Paul. Let us assume that the cost of the project would not grow.

Even without a government discount or a bulk discount, one can buy a 36-seat transit bus (the CTS rear engine model from Champion Bus Inc. of Imlay City, Michigan) for about $120,000.

So for the same price for the 11-mile light rail line, you could buy 7,500 buses.

These buses are 38 feet long. So the length of 7,500 buses, rolling bumper to bumper, would be 285,000 feet.

The 11-mile route of the rail line is 58,080 feet long.

So you could have five lanes of buses cramming University Avenue, bumper to bumper for the same price as the train.

Or you could have one lane of buses headed in each direction, bumper to bumper, with 4,500 buses waiting in mothballs until they were needed.

Or you could have 100 buses headed in each direction of the 50-block route, with one bus for each block. That would leave you with 7,400 buses in mothballs. With a five-year warranty on each bus, it would take you 375 years to run out of buses.

So unless the Central Corridor rail line will be in operation until the year 2383, it might be cheaper to go with buses.

Anyone still want to argue that the government is an efficient way to solve anything??

Date : April 26, 2008

Dear Al Gore,

It just snowed. Fuck you.

Sincerely,

Minnesota

Hillary still has a shot…

Huh….who would have thought it would be that easy??

[H/T Meditation]

Yeah, it’s been a busy week, and was ready for the weekend about 5 weeks ago. I’m pretty sure someone slipped an extra Monday into this week when I wasn’t looking. Motivation to write anything is down, news cycle is slow, and time is short. So we get this instead….

So it’s basically been confirmed that the abuse call that kicked off the increasingly questionable raid on the polygamist cult, was a hoax. And the lady that made the false call is also a Democratic delegate supporting Obama. I don’t know that that is anything more than a curiosity but it’s interesting none the less.

Pizza Hut has officially fired that delivery driver that shot the guy who attempted to kill him. I would say it’s maybe a good time to check out the other chains, but I’m not aware of any major chain that allows their drivers to carry. Of course, if I were a driver, I would say this is probably a time where a variation of the saying “I’d rather be judged by 12, then carried by 6” applies….probably along the lines of “I’d rather be alive and unemployed, than dead with a job“.

Pelosi has apparently been repeatedly quoted scripture to justify her global warming crap, but there is a problem….her quote doesn’t exist in the bible, nor is it a paraphrase of anything. Clinging to a non-existent biblical quote? She must be bitter.

Acknowledging the fact that I’ve prematurely fallen into a crotchety old man personality, I think I might have found a new toy. A device called the Mosquito that makes a REALLY irritating sound….then can only be heard by people in their teens and early-20s. God bless technology….helping me keep the damn kids off my lawn.

Okay miniaturization is officially out of control…they’ve fit the original NES system into either a game cartridge, or the frigging controller.

Old&Busted : Global Warming New&Sexy : A new Ice Age. I’ve previously pointed out that solar activity was a little low lately, but now it’s starting to get worse. NO sun spots detected recently, and temperatures have not only plateaued but are dropping. If the sun doesn’t wake up and current rate of decline continues, a new Ice Age hits us in about 20 years. Of course, it was about 15 years ago that we were last talking about the impending ice age, so this is probably all just needless hair pulling. On the other hand we’re about 1,000 years overdue for the next ice age.

Theories on what sank the Titanic - Old&Busted : Hit an iceberg New&Sexy : Well that, and it was on fire at the time. Unlike most conspiracy theories, they actually have supporting evidence. And it didn’t so much cause the sinking as it’s probably one more event in a sequence that contributed to it.

There are now people so worked up about their carbon footprint, that they actually have a new therapy to deal with it….Eco-Therapy. Reminds me of news reports I heard shortly after the 2004 elections where people were so upset over the election results that they were seeking therapy and they were forming support groups to deal with it. Yeah, on one hand, good fucking grief…..on the other hand (you have different fingers) they probably belong in therapy anyway.

Surprise Surprise! The virtual fence does virtually nothing and has been officially shit-canned. I’d like to say I didn’t see this coming or that I didn’t tell you so, but well….okay nevermind, I like saying that.

[H/T 50¢]

The aftermath of Pennsylvania has definitely revealed something….the schism within the Democratic Party is getting pretty serious. One thing the supporters of both Obama and Clinton increasingly share is that they would not be willing to vote for the other Democratic candidate if their candidate does not get the endorsement. So clearly regardless of how the Democratic presidential race comes out, there will be a sizeable minority that is unhappy.

On the Republican side, conservatives have never been a big fan of McCain. He’s been strongly opposed by many. From the number and amount of donations that have been made to McCain’s campaign….or lack thereof, it’s pretty obvious there is still an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm for our candidate. I’ve seen activists using the phrase “I love my country more than I hate John McCain” as their rallying cry…..not exactly a ringing endorsement huh??

So I think it’s safe to say that there is a significant minority, possibly even majority of the population, that is not happy with the presidential race. And more than likely a significant minority will be unhappy regardless of who wins….more than usual is what I’m implying.

With this in mind, I think I speak for most of America, when I say “WE PLEAD THE EIGHTH!! And since defendants typically get a new trial in such a case as their rights are violated, we ask for a do-over“.

Let us know when we’re starting over.