EckerNet.Com

Yes, I have returned.  Myself and several other members of the MN Militia just got back from several days of hinting in the NoDak badlands/desert.  We figured it necessary to stage this trip since one of our members is preparing for another deployment (currently to Iraq) and he\’ll probably miss next year\’s trip.  He demonstrated his shooting skills were definitely up to the task.  However, I sincerely hope, and I\’m sure both him and his wife/family agree, that he never has use for them.

But even in it\’s own right it was an enjoyable trip.  Middle of what is essentially a desert shooting at prairie dogs from 300 to 600 yards away with a 30+ mph crosswind.  It seems they\’ve gotten a bit skittish from being shot at all summer so combined with the conditions I won\’t pretend we put much of a dent in their population but it was good fun anyway.  Except for the rattlesnake.

Having returned and finally gotten cleaned up, it\’s time to catch up with the world.

New Orleans is under water again?? You don\’t say.  Who could have seen that coming?  I\’m so glad we spent millions of tax dollars rebuilding a city that was guaranteed to be destroyed again soon and which contributes virtually nothing to the nation with the notable exceptions of copious amounts of most of the seven deadly sins, and a few sins that haven\’t even been invented yet.

GOP convention is going on, albeit in a very abbreviated format.  I\’ll be participating, so to speak, for the rest of it.  I hope to relate my experiences here but we\’ll see what I have time for.

Palin has been picked as VP.  I think I\’m damn near required to comment on that but it\’s now old news having been announced as I was on my way out the door.  But we\’ll see.

Other than that the world is pretty much as I left it.  Which is nice that it can survive without me.

Finally our wallets and checkbooks are safe….for at least a little while. The MN legislature finished up their business. Sure we have to learn to live with the aftermath, but at least more abuse isn\’t coming down the pipeline from our legislature.

Good luck…

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.

It\’s amazing how consistent the MN DFL can be. In a good economy, the people can afford to pay more in taxes. In a slow economy, the people can afford to pay more in taxes. Where they think all this money comes from is beyond me.

What is clear though, is that the DFL has never seen a tax they don\’t like.

Tuesday afternoon, Dakota joined several other metro counties in approving the sales tax. That in addition to the previously passed gas taxes. That\’s in addition to an endless list of other taxes that either have already been approved or are in the works. My own legislator, Shelley Madore, who clearly doesn\’t represent her constituents, has been at the forefront of much of this taxapalooza effort.

It\’s bad enough that in an environment of high gas prices, they felt the need to artificially raise the price even more by imposing more taxes on gasoline. Now with a sluggish economy, it will cost most metro residents more just to tread water as virtually anything they do will incur even more in taxes.

When the transportation tax bill (HF2800) was passed, the Override Six Republicans were described as \”brave\” by the DFL. Tell me what is so brave about making people\’s life more difficult. What is so brave about forcing economic hardship on residents who don\’t have the choice of just charging their employer more as the government is able to do??

This April Fool\’s Day the joke is clearly on the taxpayer, except these jokes hurt….right in the wallet. It should be clear to all voters that come November it\’s time to vote these jokers out.

[Crossposted at True North]

It was with no small amusement that I heard that bars around Minnesota had started to put on theatrical productions in order to get around the smoking ban. Basically, the law has loophole that allows smoking for theatrical performances. So basically if the bar is putting on a \”play\” and everybody is an \”extra\”, they can smoke….legally.

Of course, people exercising their legal right to make decisions for themselves is just beyond acceptable for the Minnesota DFL, and they aren\’t going to tolerate it. How dare the peasants think they have the ability to choose ANYTHING for themselves!!

\”I, as a legislator, am obligated to support the intent of the law,\” said Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato, one author of the ban that went into effect Oct. 1. \”I would discourage people from doing this, because I think they know it violates the intent of the law.\”

I would also discourage you from passing smoking bans because it violates common sense, but that and a nickle will get me three cents (after accounting for new DFL tax increases).

As a legislator, you\’re also obligated to represent the will of the people (Hi! Remember us?!). And clearly the will of the people is that you\’re all a bunch of ignorant boobs and we want you to keep your hands off our personal decisions.

The American Cancer Society has issued its review, calling them a \”reckless\” endangerment of public health.

Reckless endangerment?? Which part exactly? You mean the part where perfectly rational adults freely choose to enter an establishment where there will be smoking. And that even after sitting down and smelling smoking they freely choose to stay? In fact, they may even freely choose to light up a legal substance and enjoy a smoke?? This all taking place in an privately owned establishment, whose owner freely chose to allow smoking?? And whose employees, presumably not chained to the bar, have freely chose to work in a place where there is smoking. And those employees may very well freely choose to smoke as well??

Which one of those freely made choices are \”reckless endangerment\” and not \”personal responsibility\”???

The idea was hatched by criminal defense lawyer Mark Benjamin, who helped organize the first smoking performance at a Lake Mille Lacs resort.

\”If theater night is going on in one bar on one night and (people) don\’t want to go in, they can go across the street to the other bar,\” Benjamin said.

Holy Mother of God….this man is using common sense!! I can see why the Minnesota DFL has it\’s panties in a bunch. Free thought is clearly not an authorized activity in the People\’s Republic of Minnesota!!!

In addition, he\’s commiting the sin of demonstrating why the people that demand a smoking ban are a bunch of facist jerks. If smoking REALLY bothered them, they can leave. And drive 20 miles away?? No, very likely just cross the street. But don\’t get hit by the trolley!!!

So none of this is about public health, it\’s all about liberals wanting to impose their will upon others. They are smarter than the rest of us and they can\’t stand that we can survive without their assistance.

Problem though is…nobody wants it.

Doug Schultz, a state Department of Health spokesman, said the agency is monitoring the situation but has yet to receive a formal opinion from Attorney General Lori Swanson on whether the performances are legal. There have been no formal complaints, he added.

Nobody has complained?? Tells you something doesn\’t it. Or at least it should. Perhaps because the people that were there chose to be there and realized it was pretty stupid to complain about smoking when in a bar.

\”A lot of people are mocking state law,\” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, another architect of the law. \”We\’re looking at repairing the breach.\”

Mocking the state law?? Noooooo, tell me another.

How about instead of repairing that breach, you just throw away the entire law. A lot of people are mocking the law because a lot of people think it\’s total nonsense.

Of course, that would make sense…and there is no room for that in the Minnesota DFL.

[Kevin Ecker, is a non-smoking internationally published author whose works can be read at EckerNet.Com (comments for this post welcome there), occasionally True North and not quite covertly at Madore Watch. Feel free to enjoy some of his other works such as \”Life Isn\’t Fair\” and \”DFL : Protecting The Right To Be Stupid Since 1944\”.]

I\’m really rather surprised by the traction that the award for the new Air Force tanker has received, because this program has been in the works for almost a decade now. I personally have been following it somewhat-closely since early 2001, and I\’m not surprised by the outcome one iota.

But apparently everyone else is absolutely flabbergasted that Boeing lost to Northrup Grumman-EADS in a $65 billion program to build planes to replace the ageing KC-135 tankers.

Let me cut right to the chase. Boeing lost this contract because of it\’s own actions and it deserved to lose regardless of what type of standard you want to measure them against. They have nobody to blame but themselves.

First of all, there is the ethical consideration, and this is the drama that originally gained my attention back in 2001. Boeing essentially bribed the Pentagon to take one up the tailpipe, and accept a short-term lease of tankers for more than it would cost to buy the planes outright. The article I link above does make reference to the scandal but doesn\’t mention the details, and regrettably I can\’t find any of the previous newsclippings I read. However, if my memory serves people both in Boeing and the Air Force saw jail time, and new procurement procedures were put in place.

Secondly, there was the overall approach to the problem. Northrup/EADS essentially asked the Air Force what they wanted and then sought to design a tanker to those specs. Boeing basically just took one of their commercial airframes and told the Air Force that\’s what you\’re getting and you\’re gonna like it.

So third, it should be no surprise whose design was better suited to the application in almost all respects. The only area that Boeing\’s concept performed better was that it could be deployed on forward airstrips. However, consider the manner in which tankers are used. They are by definition vulnerable (and high-value) targets, and therefore they are NOT used on the front lines and are instead staged out of harms way. Namely a forward deployment capability ranks just above \”sunroof\” in priority.

Fourth, is what has to be the most laughable component. The fact that this was awarded to a foreign company. Ok, I\’ve already written quite about on the stupidity of \”Buy American\” only when it comes to military hardware, most notably about this very topic here. Basically the concept is that military industrial complex is a global industry, as no one nation purchases enough weaponry to sustain sufficient production capabity.

Plus this isn\’t exactly top secret hardware. It\’s a tanker. Yes I\’m friddering away some of the technical details but it\’s essentially a big ass plane with a fuel bladder in it, and a gas pump coming out the ass end. You don\’t get much more basic amongst military equipment.

And diplomatically it was almost required. Our relations with France have been very cool for awhile now. Now they are finally starting to warm up and France is finally coming around to our way of looking at things. That is worthy of a reward is it not? Especially if it also serves our own purposes??

I realize that most of the legislators making noise are just doing their job. After all, a major employer in their region just missed out on a major contract. It\’s sorta your job to at least say something. But considering the employer lost due to their own ethical lapses and poor performance, and lost to a new friend of the US, perhaps you might want to keep your harping to a minimum?

Besides, anyone that follows defense contract awards knows they are almost an incestual merry-go-round. Lockheed and Northrup have both won big contracts recently. Either Raytheon or Boeing is first in line for the next big one. Probably Raytheon, as Boeing is too busy screwing up the whole virtual border fence. United Defense and ATK just keep latching onto whatever contractor is \”hot\” at the moment. Point being, Boeing\’s \”turn\” is coming….calm down.

Attention All Minnesotans, this just in….Snowflakes may contain Bacteria.

Ok you all know the drill :

EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!

In other news….EVERYTHING has bacteria on it. It\’s everywhere. Not all of it is harmful. Some of it is vital to human survival. And most of it is innocuous.

You may resume your irrational panic mode now.

On the MN House floor today, while discussing the massive tax grab, otherwise known as HF 2800, Rep. Shelley Madore (Apple Valley – D) gave a very impassioned speech on her reasons for voting to override the Governor\’s veto of the bill. In order to justify her vote, she apparently felt the need to grab the moral highroad…through less than upstanding methods. She stated…

The bridge went down on August 1st and a gentleman from my district died. He left four children and I went to their funeral…I went to his funeral. And I stood there with his family and I looked them in the face. And what you\’re asking me is if his life is worth a nickel a gallon? I\’m telling you it is. Those four children will never have their father come home. He was trying to get home to his family to have dinner. That\’s all he was trying to do on the bridge that day. And I will vote for that, as I have publicly stated for the last two election cycles, I will vote for this today. Thank you.

source – At time 01:57:30 in the house floor session (2/25/08) video.

Shelley, why do you feel the need to use another man\’s gravestone as a bully pulpit? Especially when it\’s not true.

Here are the facts :

1. NOBODY in Shelley Madore\’s district (Apple Valley) lost their life to the 35W Bridge Collapse.
2. All indications are that no amount of money would have saved the 35W Bridge, if in fact it fell due to a design flaw
3. The 35W bridge was not being neglected due to lack of funds, as maintenance was being done on the bridge when it feel.

Facts #2 and #3 are just inconvenient for Shelley Madore, as they destroy one of the central DFL talking points about that disaster.

However, it\’s particularly distasteful that Rep. Madore has to capitalize on the death of another person in order to justify her votes. Instead, she should just be honest with her citizens by admitting that she has never seen a tax she didn\’t like.

Rep. Madore, it\’s bad enough that you follow the lead of your inner-city liberal buddies and vote against the interests of your own district time and again. However, it\’s just plain revolting and despicable that not only do you use a man\’s grave as your soapbox, but then use his body to shield yourself from criticism.

[Crossposted at True North and at Madore Watch]

The Minnesota Legislature is back in session. And leave it to the DFL to show their colors on the first frigging day. They can\’t even go a single frigging day without proposing raising more taxes on us. What makes it even worse is my own legislator was one of the DFL jackasses to offer up the bill. Seriously Rep. Madore, can you go one day without either raising my taxes or wrapping me in more legislative red tape?

You know what, forget it, I know the answer. Big fat No.

The MN DFL wants to raise the gas tax, along with damn near every other tax, to pay for more transportation improvements.  Heh, didn\’t we just pass a transportation amendment last election?? Wasn\’t that advertised to be the answer to all our transportation costs???  Whatever happened to all that money?? Oh yeah….light rail.

Wow….I was already not looking forward to the start of the legislative session. It means another year of reading through House Journals. If you\’ve never done it, it\’s a bit like being beaten over the head with a fossilized dog turd. If these are the type of bills I have to look forward to this is gonna be an interesting year.

Dakota County would like your input on their first \”transit plan\”, which you can find here. They want comments by Feb 15, 2008, and you\’ll find the address to send said comments to at the previously linked location.

The purpose of the plan is to establish a vision for county transit services including bus rapid transit, commuter rail and light rail. The vision provides a framework for improving mobility needs within Dakota County through innovative transit planning, partnerships with cities and progressive transit projects, such as the Cedar Avenue Transitway.

Sounds exciting doesn\’t it? Also sounds expensive. Brought to you by the same people that thought the Star Wars Trench was a neat transit idea.