the cucking stool

• R.T. Rybak at Drinking Liberally on December 3rd

  It’s still a few days off, but be sure to mark it down and come to Drinking Liberally on Thursday, December 3rd. R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, and recently-announced candidate for governor, will be our guest. We meet from six to around nine at the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis. [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 10:43pm EST
  

• History is a weapon

  From Howard Zinn’s essay in History is a Weapon (and taken from his book A People’s History of the United States):      When the Pilgrims came to New England they too were coming not to vacant land but to territory inhabited by tribes of Indians. The governor of the Massachusetts [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 10:37am EST
  

• The Pequot should have had better border control

  From a Thanksgiving post three years ago: The idea of a city on a hill [John Winthrop, picked up by others, including Ronald Reagan] is heartwarming. It suggests what George Bush has spoken of: that the United States is a beacon of liberty and democracy. People can look to us [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 7:18pm EST
  

• Candidates’ debate

  Not the lyric from the Simon and Garfunkel song, but the one being held tonight for DFL gubernatorial candidates at the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts. Spot hopes to attend, and he has a question. Although he doubts he’ll get a chance to ask it. But here it is: [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 11:18am EST
  

• The Climateers

  I’ve been meaning to mention this for a while. The daughter of a friend of mine is a graduate student in Public and Industrial Environmental Management in Berlin. She is the coauthor of a blog dedicated to environmental activism and apparently will be attending the upcoming summit on the environment [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:36pm EST
  

• Ebenezer Scrooge: just a misunderstood libertarian

  Alternate title: We are all Bob Cratchit now (from Balloon Juice) Spot had forgotten about these tender Christmas tidings from the Ludwig von Mies Institute: So let's look without preconceptions at Scrooge's allegedly underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit. The fact is, if Cratchit's skills were worth more to anyone than the [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 11:10am EST
  

• Selling the apocalypse in a can

  To paraphrase P.T. Barnum (at least Spot thinks that who it was), nobody every went broke underestimating the intelligence (he said taste) of the American public. Bill Heid, the owner of a company called Solutions From Science, is selling a can of garden seeds for the low, low price of [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:17pm EST
  

• Drinking Liberally tonight!

  We meet from six, until about nine, at the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis. You can come anytime. Just as a head’s up, there will be NO meeting next week: it’s Thanksgiving. On the 3rd of December, R.T. Rybak will be out guest. The 10th of December is the annual [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:48am EST
  

• Editor's note

  Earlier today, the Cucking Stool put up a post dealing with testimony at a June 23, 2005, Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution. The Senate's record of the hearing, which dealt with the effects of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, can be found here. The Committee's record [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 12:02pm EST
  

• It is always an unsettling sight

  To see a grown man piss himself, that is. It is that much worse when it happens on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives: On the House floor last night, Media Matters points out, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) made his case against holding trials for 9/11 suspects in [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:23pm EST
  

• Katie reads a book!

  And she can’t wait to tell us all about it; well, the one idea from it that stuck in her head, anyway. The book? Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed. Who is Thomas Sowell, Spotty? Mr. Sowell, grasshopper, is a writer from the well-endowed sheltered conservative workshop known as [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 1:17pm EST
  

• No wonder we can’t afford healthcare

  From Empire Burlesque: Our American militarists love war so much that they even bankroll the enemy, just to keep the blood money flowing. This odd but absolutely crucial characteristic of the Never-Ending Terror War was borne out again in a remarkable story in the Guardian (with an expanded version in [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 9:58pm EST
  

• Bill of Attainder!

  ACORN sued the federal government for enacting a bill of attainder against it. Here’s an interview on Democracy Now with ACORN’s counsel. This one should be a slam dunk for ACORN. Technorati Tags: ACORN,bills of attainder,Democracy Now [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 1:09pm EST
  

• It's time for Jim Oberstar to take one for the team

  Katha Pollit said recently: You know what I don't want to hear right now about the Stupak-Pitts amendment banning abortion coverage from federally subsidized health insurance policies? That it's the price of reform, and prochoice women should shut up and take one for the team. "If you want to rebuild" [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 9:32am EST
  

• Governor Gutshot

  TPaw, Pepsodent, Governor Gimmick: you can stow them all. Today’s Spotty™ winner’s got the new — and in Spot’s opinion the best — new moniker for Pawlenty: The similarities between Gov. Tim Pawlenty's abandonment of his deer in northern Minnesota and his departure from the office of governor of this [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:19am EST
  

• Drinking Liberally tomorrow night

  Don’t forget our regular meeting tomorrow night (November 12th) from six to nine at the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis. Technorati Tags: Drinking Liberally,331 Club [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:38pm EST
  

• We’re on the eve of destruction

  Here’s driftglass on that hopeless windbag Lindsey Graham: On “Face the Nation” Lindsey Graham warned “the public option will destroy private insurance.” Just as public parks and gyms have destroyed for-profit fitness clubs, public beaches have destroyed private seaside resorts, public transit has destroyed the car, Segue, motorcycle, bike and [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:13pm EST
  

• It must be almost Pavlovian

  A writer of headlines at the Strib is given the task of writing a headline for a Katherine Kersten column. Entirely unbidden, the term “slippery slope” pops into the writer’s head. It could hardly be otherwise; Katie warns an unsuspecting public of a “slippery slope” in every column. And thus [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 1:27pm EST
  

• We knew she was a little thug

  Those of us who saw Bachmann & company take over the state capitol a few years ago really can't be all that surprised this happened.That's Michele Bachmann interrupting Congresswomen who try to address the House in turn on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday. Unwilling to even let' [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:39am EST
  

• Guilty! II

  Here’s an interview with the Italian judge prosecutor who convicted the 23 Americans for kidnapping the Muslim cleric off the streets of Milan. Amy Goodman is joined by human rights lawyer Scott Horton. M corrects points out it is an interview with the prosecutor. Spot meant prosecutor; really he did. [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 2:43pm EST
  

• Pirates in blue V

  Alternate title: Jeep lust You can read the earlier installments here: part one, part two, part three, and part four. This is the final installment in the series, bringing the issue back home. Just a week ago, there was an article in the Metro West section of the Star Tribune [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 2:02pm EST
  

• Guilty!

  Busy day, not much time to blog. But Spot did want to pass this along: Judgment in Milan An Italian court hearing criminal charges against 26 American officials and a smaller group of Italians arising out of a CIA extraordinary rendition has ruled today. The case relates to the CIA’s [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:53am EST
  

• Crowing and kvetching: the Drinking Liberally edition

  Drinking Liberally tomorrow night – Thursday, November 5th – will be a a post mortem on the just-conducted election. Come and tell us why your candidate won, and if your candidate lost, come and explain why the voting public was so sadly misguided. Campaign staff are especially encouraged to attend. [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 4:59pm EST
  

• Pirates in blue IV

  In this, probably the penultimate post in the series (part one, part two, part three), we’ll address splitting the forfeiture pot. The basic rule is 70% of the proceeds go to the local cops or other agency responsible for the bust, 20% to the prosecuting agency, and 10% to the [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 2:13pm EST
  

• Pirates in blue III

  Alternate title: License to steal This is the third post in a series. Here’s part one and part two. I recommended that readers review the complaint prepared against the Metro Strike Force by attorneys for some of its victims: Rivera v. Metro Gang Strike Force. The Strike Force described in [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:21am EST
  

• Pirates in blue II

  This is a follow up to the earlier post, Pirates in blue. There are two principal kinds of civil forfeiture in Minnesota: judicial forfeiture, and administrative forfeiture, or as law enforcement probably likes to thinks of it, forfeiture lite! Less work, but the same great taste! It was administrative forfeiture [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:57pm EST
  

• Read Doug Tice

  Doug Tice had a front page op-ed section piece in the Strib today. When you’re the editor of the opinion page — at least Spot recalls that’s what Tice is up to these days — you can do that once in a while, shoving lesser mortals aside for a spot [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 10:14pm EST
  

• Pirates in blue

  Alternate title: Cops on commission Most conservatives have a concern about arbitrary and overreaching government; most liberals worry about unbridled entrepreneurialism. Here’s a story that features both at the same time. It’s about a thing called civil forfeiture. To people who are unfamiliar with it, it sounds bizarre and like [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 9:15pm EDT
  

• Fox News and the people who watch it

  Jon Stewart on Fox “News”: The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cFor Fox Sake!www.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Crisis Stewart has a good example of how the Fox “news” and “opinion” sides actually work hand in glove. A lecture delivered in Stewart’s inimitable style. A [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 5:25pm EDT
  

• The two most unwinnable wars in human history

  Have come charmingly together: The war in Afghanistan and the war on drugs. We’ve fought the former for eight years now — as long as the Soviets were in Afghanistan, and with similar results — and the latter for decades. But now we have a two-fer. This is just great. [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 4:43pm EDT
  

• The mephitic vapors

  Is what conservatives have got over ACORN, an organization that does a lot of good things, had a few — yes, a few — employees and agents make some serious mistakes, but Spot is tired of liberals and progressives, including members of Congress, running away from the organization. The indefatigable [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 2:27pm EDT
  

• Drinking Liberally on October 29th (tomorrow night)

  Don’t forget DL tomorrow night: six to nine at the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis. We don’t have a guest scheduled, but you can wear your Halloween finery if you like. Technorati Tags: Drinking Liberally,331 Club [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 1:08pm EDT
  

• Isn’t that Five Mile Rock dead ahead, sir?

  Never mind, sailor; steady as she goes. Captain Fishsticks has a new command, guiding the H.M.S. Pat Anderson through the media shoals in her quest for the Republican endorsement for governor. The Captain’s unwavering adherence to libertarian principle, like a course line laid out on a chart, and irrespective of [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 8:57am EDT
  

• Civil liberties 1, Katie 0, part two

  In a comment to Spot’s earlier post on the subject of the settlement of the flying imams’ lawsuit against the MAC and Katherine Kersten’s bilious reaction to it, MNO wrote about the procedural posture of the case at the time of the settlement. The “procedural posture” of a case sounds [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:29pm EDT
  

• Riding the train to Damascus

  Alternate title: Gettin’ your ticket from Saul George Will’s puff piece in the Strib about Michele Bachmann contains all the stuff we’ve heard before: the accidental politician who went to a caucus on the spur of the moment and was drafted to run for office, raising a gaggle of foster [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 11:12am EDT
  

• The top of the heap, indeed

  Sally Jo Sorensen at Bluestem Prairie has been doing some digging on a guy named Samuel Johnson and the neo-Nazi group he heads in Austin, Minnesota. Apparently, Johnson’s trying to use anti-immigration sentiment in southern Minnesota to gain a foothold for other issues of the so-called “National Socialist Movement.” Among [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 7:38pm EDT
  

• Civil liberties 1, Katie 0

  Alternate title: The taste of crow, unsalted Ken Avidor graphic In a column that Spot hopes was therapeutic for Katherine Kersten, she bellows and roars about the vindication of the flying imams where it really matters, in court: The "flying imams" and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are declaring [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 5:43pm EDT
  

• Pray, but watch the capital reserves!

  From the Strib: Riverview Community Bank, an Otsego firm that attracted national media attention several years ago for espousing prayer in the workplace, has been shut down by state regulators. The six-year-old bank, which has $108 million in assets and branches in Otsego and Anoka, was an aggressive real estate [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 10:16pm EDT
  

• Pssst! Admiral!

  Congratulations! You came up with yesterday's most unintentional hilarious headline of the day: Former Nixon Staffer Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Warns Obama About An ‘Enemies List’ More on the Nixon enemies list - one that actually existed - here. Technorati Tags: Nixon elemies list,Sen. Lamar Alexander' [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 9:48am EDT
  

• They can dish it out, but they can’t take it

  Fox “News” that is. That band of pikers, scrubs, and mokes apparently thought they could slander and pander for the entire Obama Administration and not suffer any blowback. Remember, the First Amendment says we’ll have a free press, not a free shot press. The rest of this post will rely [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 2:28pm EDT
  

• No guest scheduled for DL: come and drink

  We don’t have a guest scheduled tonight, the 22nd, so if you like quiet conversation and libation, tonight’s the night for you. There will be lots of things to talk about. We meet six to nine or so at the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis. Technorati Tags: Drinking Liberally,331 Club [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 1:18am EDT
  

• Papa John Kolstad returns to the 331 Club stage!

  But this time, it’s as a candidate for mayor of Minneapolis in the upcoming election. Papa John’s remarks were interesting and well received. This one is well worth a look. For those of you who don’t know, John Kolstad, better known as Papa John to his fans, is a legendary [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 5:44pm EDT
  

• As Jack says, it was inevitable

  Professor Jack Balkin that is, writing in Balkinzation that it was inevitable that conservatives would concoct an argument that it is unconstitutional for Barack Obama to accept the Nobel Peace Prize: Really, you can't make these things up. Ronald Rotunda and J. Peter Pham somehow convinced the Washington Post to' [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 9:55am EDT
  

• For your Sunday night edification

  Technorati Tags: Cucking stool,archiac verbs [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 10:06pm EDT
  

• This is Drinking Liberally - Minneapolis

  Here’s a new slideshow about Minneapolis Drinking Liberally; there’s a link to it in the sidebar, too. Technorati Tags: Drinking Liberally,331 Club [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 4:12pm EDT
  

• Burn the ships!

  If the conquest is not successful, we all perish. Look behind you! I have burned the ships! We will win or die! That’s the charming story attributed to Hernan Cortés on landing near present day Veracruz, Mexico with his army of conquest. As with many charming stories, it isn’t entirely [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 2:25pm EDT
  

• The results of fedora night at Drinking Liberally

  Last night’s guest, Papa John Kolstad, holding his mayoral candidacy literature, is in the center. Papa John was an engaging guest with some interesting observations about government in the City of Minneapolis. Look for a short video, probably early next week. Technorati Tags: Papa John Kolstad,Drinking Liberally,331 Club,mayor of Minneapolis [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 10:50am EDT
  

• Please don’t prosecute my father!

  That’s Scott Horton’s description of the real purpose of the organization Keep America Safe: I’d reduce the real purpose of Keep America Safe to this: “Please don’t prosecute my father!” It’s increasingly clear that Dick Cheney was the author of the Bush-era torture policies, and my hunch is that when [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 2:10pm EDT
  

• reNEW.mn’s visit to Drinking Liberally

  Last Thursday, Greta Bergstrom and Ryan Greenwood from Take Action Minnesota came to Drinking Liberally to discuss the nonprofit’s reNEW.mn campaign, launched late last month. The goal of the campaign is to organize and elect a progressive governor in Minnesota in 2010. Technorati Tags: Drinking Liberally,331 Club,Take Action Minnesota,reNEW.mn campaign [...]
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  Posted: October 14, 2009, 10:23am EDT
  

• John Kolstad comes to DL on October 15th

  John Kolstad, better known as Papa John to a generation of folk music fans, will visit Drinking Liberally in Minneapolis this week, as a candidate, not a musician. John is running for mayor of Minneapolis against the incumbent R.T. Rybak and several others. This visit is a little unusual for [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 10:29am EDT