# WTF is the Minnesota legislature up to? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722 "2005-04-23T03:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/21 "2005-04-24T23:59:56Z")
> [@August West](#): > > I would appreciate it if you could at least get that 3.2 beer thing changed. As a Minnesotan, I would love to see that changed as well. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/22 "2005-04-25T02:46:53Z")
> [@Dr. Lao](#): > > But it looks as though the credit is for in-state brewers, while the tax is on all beer, imported or otherwise. I’m reading it as the tax credit is on microbrews only, like James Page.: 14.11 For purposes of this subdivision, a “qualified brewer” 14.12 means a brewer, \*\*whether or not located in this state, \*\* 14.13 \*\*manufacturing less than 100,000 barrels of fermented malt \*\* 14.14 beverages in the calendar year immediately preceding the 14.15 calendar year for which the credit under this subdivision is 14.16 claimed. In determining the number of barrels, all brands or 14.17 labels of a brewer must be combined. All facilities for the 14.18 manufacture of fermented malt beverages owned or controlled by 14.19 the same person, corporation, or other entity must be treated as 14.20 a single brewer. ---
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/23 "2005-04-25T15:22:54Z")
Hmmm. I’ve been looking forward to moving back to Minnesota this summer, so I’ll look on the bright side: It’s a nice hour drive to Big Stone City! ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/24 "2005-04-25T15:43:08Z")
> [@SlyFrog](#): > > Not all of them. The local ones nearest us are all muni-owned. Great, just great. First the cut to Local Government Aid, and now a possible big blow to the municipal liquor store…looks like Pawlenty’s going to “no new taxes” us to another huge jump in property taxes. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/25 "2005-04-25T16:01:23Z")
> [@Tamex](#): > > Great, just great. First the cut to Local Government Aid, and now a possible big blow to the municipal liquor store…looks like Pawlenty’s going to “no new taxes” us to another huge jump in property taxes. Actually, the bill in the OP, all of the authors are dems: > [@](#): > > Senate Authors Marty; Foley; Berglin; Lourey and did you read the short description?: > [@](#): > > Short Description DWI and chemical dependency prevention initiatives :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/26 "2005-04-25T17:21:39Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Paging **elucidator** … Not really a Minnesotan, a refugee from Texas taking asylum amongst the comparatively sane. Only lived here about thirty years, off and on, and many of the nuances of Minnesotan culture still escape me. Cream of mushroom soup as a food group, for instance. As far as state legislatures go, the Leg of MN makes the Leg of TX look like a baboon posse on methedrine. That said, I am confident that I can assign my marginal proxy to friend **Doggy Knees** or the esteemed transexual **Nurse Carmen**. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/27 "2005-04-25T18:21:07Z")
John Marty and Linda Berglin could be the poster children for well intentioned well meaning Minnesota Democrats who don’t understand what consequences are. Perhaps I’ll drop Mr. Marty a note and remind him that my cousins liquor store is fifteen miles from the Wisconsin border and most of my relatives live in his district. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/28 "2005-04-25T18:56:26Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Liquor stores in Minnesota are privately owned (they are owned by the state in Iowa, though, at least they were when I went to college there) - my Italian relatives have had one in continuous operation since 1918. Liquor and beer in Iowa can be purchased at a grocery store. The times, they have a’ changed. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/29 "2005-04-25T19:29:38Z")
Cool. Twenty years is a long time. Personally, I still like Wisconsin. Went to a “mini mart” in Muscoda that sold gas, groceries, guns, ammo, liquor, rented videos, and sold live bait. Now thats one stop shopping! ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/30 "2005-04-25T19:44:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > the esteemed transexual **Nurse Carmen**. Hey! I’ll have you know that Nurse Carmen was a staple on WCCO and known throughout Minnesota as the sweetest person known to man. (Don’t tell my fellow Minnesotans that I picked on the dead pool, k?) Silly pee-wee bike stealin Texan! Man. I’ve really been thinking of changing my name lately. Assumptions that I’m a transexual might be the straw that broke the camels back. I mean, I have tools! Pneumatic! Power! I’ve driven a backhoe and I can plug a hole in a Schmidt can from 100 yards with my SKS! I’ve had one night stands with girls who’s names I failed to catch! My fish can swim and I have a 5 year old to prove it! I was just in the gym, and I smell bad! I drive a pickup truck! (Okay, that could make me a lesbian as well) Transexual. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/31 "2005-04-25T20:26:17Z")
Well, once again, my grasp of Minnesota culture has eluded me. I’d always been under the presumption that here, in the Sweden of the West, the term “transexual” was merely indicative of an exceptional degree of flexibility, and as a means to ensure a more fulsome dating agenda. Its just another thing I don’t understand, like a whole branch of Christianity devoted to the worship of Lex Luther or the application of the term “city planning” to St. Paul. The election of Jesse Ventura makes perfect sense to a Texan, but Norm Coleman? Baffling. Be advised, as well, that your litany of macho accomplishments falls within the purview of an average Texas Campfire Girl, with certain obvioius physiological exceptions. As well, I never heard of this Nurse Carmen of whom you speak, but accept your estimate of her sweetness without demur. The only Carmen I heard about was that consumptive slut who sings soprano. Just in case you were thinking a Waco boy lacks culture. I profer my apologies. In the future, I will simply refer to you as “Butch”. In virtual space, no one can hear you snicker. And, just for the record, no self-respecting Texan would steal a bicycle, as they are needlessly complicated and entirely useless as armadillo squashing apparatus. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/32 "2005-04-26T15:34:40Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Actually, the bill in the OP, all of the authors are dems: Meh. They all suck. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/33 "2005-04-26T20:22:53Z")
Proposed additional taxes on booze in this state don’t surprise me in the least. The blue laws are bafflingly antiquated to someone who was accustomed to seeing hard liquor on grocery store shelves before moving North. It also wouldn’t surprise me that they’re being proposed for the sake of “DWI and chemical dependency prevention”. I really wish the legislative nannies would stay away from my liquor cabinet. Methinks it’s time to start looking into online wine ordering, although I’m sure they’ve found a way to tax that, too. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722/34 "2005-04-27T00:31:28Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Personally, I still like Wisconsin. Went to a “mini mart” in Muscoda that sold gas, groceries, guns, ammo, liquor, rented videos, and sold live bait. Now thats one stop shopping! I know exactly what place you’re talking about (my mom’s from Muscoda). I was here a few years ago for a summer internship. It was a gorgeous spring day and all I wanted to do was grill a steak and have a beer. I lived in an area that had quite a few liquor stores. I was a bit puzzled when I drove to the first one and it was closed. “Maybe it’s their day off,” I thought. When I got to the second closed one, I thought “Is this because it’s Sunday?” I almost drove into Hudson, but my housemates let me drink some of their beer. Thank Og they changed the bar time to 2AM! Minnesota has another loopy piece of beer legislation–a brewery can’t sell to the general public in the same place they distribute wholesale. I discovered this when I toured the James Page brewery (before it was bought by Summit). They had beer available for consumption before the tour started, but you couldn’t buy it. You could drink for free out of a plastic glass or buy a real glass and drink out of that (made me think of college cup parties). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-the-minnesota-legislature-up-to/300722.md?page=1)