Minnesota State legislator claims that gays were responsible for the holocaust.

[GrandfatherTrout]

*Originally posted by matt_mcl *
No, it’s true. We were responsible for the Holocaust. The pink triangle thing? We just did that to get rid of our ex-boyfriends.

Yeah. It all started as just this uniform enthusiasts’ night at this club? But then it got sooooo out of hand.

[Miller]

You know, you do see an awful lot of German war helmets at Gay Pride parades…

[Governor_Quinn]

*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic *
**
**Chimera has a point about the schizphrenic nature of our legislature. the Metropolitan area tends to be super liberal while the rural parts of the state are stone-age conservatives. There’s not much in between. **

Well, the Minneapolis suburbs still have some moderate Reps, and the upstate rural areas some moderate Dems, but, in general, your analysis is correct.

If you want to see a really contrasting legislature, go to California.
I could rant for hours about it.

[Otto]

Now there’s an ethics complaint filed against him on the grounds that his comments “tend to bring the house into dishonor or disrepute.”

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Wow, pitted by The Advocate. That’s the big time for homophobes.

[stpauler]

It’s a real shame that you can’t heckle at the capitol. I live so close. Spitting distance one might say…hmmm…

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

You can heckle at the capitol, it’s a public building. Now spitting on the other hand…

[pantom]

I live in the district here in NJ that spawned, and believe me that is the correct word, one Gerald Cardinale, state senator, a Cro Magnon if ever there was one.
I know the people amongst whom I live; there is no chance he’ll ever be voted out. The only thing anyone around here cares about is taxes; as long as he can’t be accused of ever raising anyone’s taxes, he’s got a job for life.

[Governor_Quinn]

At least Cardinale’s efforts to move up in the political world (he’s run for Governor and for Congress) have all failed.

[cheddarsnax]

Brining this thing back from the dead…
Ethics Charges Against Lindner Dropped

It was - prepare to be surprised - a party-line 2v2 vote.

[lno]

More information is available here.

While Lindner is a dumbshit, plain and simple, I was on the fence about the appropriateness of an ethics charge on his statement. Some pertinent parts from the link in this post:

And DFL House Minority Leader Matt Entenza denounced the panel’s probe as “a highly partisan proceeding [that] would give even a kangaroo court a bad name.”

Both Republican members of the committee who voted against disciplining Lindner, Reps. Sondra Erickson of Princeton and Greg Davids of Preston, were co-sponsors of his bill.
…
Davids, who withdrew his sponsorship of the bill before the Lindner controversy arose, called his comments “outrageous . . . wrong, somewhat bizarre and odd.”

But Davids added: “I do believe he has the right to say that.” If controversial or critical speech by legislators were subject to House discipline, he said, there might be no end to politically motivated ethics complaints.
…
Davids said that if any discipline is warranted it should be meted out by voters in Lindner’s northwest Hennepin County district in the next election.

[elucidator]

Dio, dear boy, chill. Bug-brained state legislators is the norm, not the exception. Minnesota is, over all, comparatively sane. Spend a day in the Texas Legislature and I guarantee, you will run screaming non-stop up 35W. I won’t even give examples, you guys are much too delicate. Trust me. You couldn’t handle it.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

*Originally posted by elucidator *
**Dio, dear boy, chill. Bug-brained state legislators is the norm, not the exception. Minnesota is, over all, comparatively sane. Spend a day in the Texas Legislature and I guarantee, you will run screaming non-stop up 35W. I won’t even give examples, you guys are much too delicate. Trust me. You couldn’t handle it. **

I’m originally from Lousiana, 'lucy, home of David Duke. Loisiana is a state in which Governor Edwin Edwards, a man who who was convicted of seventeen counts of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion in his third criminal trial, was elected four times because he was still perceived as being marginally less dangerous than his opponents (Mr. Duke, for instance).

I agree that old Arlen is a lightweight compared to some of the unbridled evil which still exists in some southern legislatures but we’re supposed to be nice up here, damn it.