There Oughta Be An Amendment or Something!

Gee, if only we were allowed to make political statements without fear of reprisal from the government...

Video: Ellison crashes Election Integrity press conference, stomps off when questioned

Minnesota Majority held a press conference on Thursday to discuss their lawsuit against Hennepin and Ramsey counties (Minneapolis and St.Paul) over a new policy implemented this year that bars Tea Party themed clothing and MM’s Election Integrity buttons from being worn at polling places. The presser got taken over by an uninvited Rep. Keith Ellison, the DFL incumbent in MN-05, who proceeded to accuse the organization of voter intimidation in its efforts to prevent fraud.

(emphasis mine)

This is a government entity here, folks. They have a policy in place barring certain types of pins/buttons/shirts from polling places, ostensibly using the "no political speech in a polling place" statue in place in the state (and in many others). It's supposed to prevent candidates from flooding the polling place itself with stickers/shirts/buttons/etc., and we're starting to see the logical extention of this poorly-thought out policy now. Just like all well-intentioned policies do, it's being twisted and used against those which the powers-that-be fear.

Where does this overreach stop? Your guess is as good as mine. We've seen the "no guns in schools" pushed to the ridiculous extreme with even Dear Leader supporting the notion that gun shops should not be allowed to operate within 5 miles of a school; can we expect the "no political-themed items within 5 miles of a polling place (this would preclude me from wearing my Gadsden shirt in my yard)? Will they slowly expand the "no political speech zone" over time? Will they add more and more groups to what they consider "political speech"? Who's deciding which affiliations are - and aren't - political speech that should be prevented from display near the polling place. Have they published guidelines?

What's telling, of course, is just how little press this has gotten. Imagine, if you will, if a county in Texas had banned MoveOn or any of Soro's minions from displaying clothing or buttons near polling places in Texas counties in 2002. The howls of outrage would have reverberated coast-to-coast, with CNN running "America Under Siege" style banners with ominous graphics decrying this egregious assault on our liberties. George Bush was depicted as Adolf Hitler for actions less damning than this; imagine what would have happened if something like this had happened under his watch. And yet, this current brouhaha is relegated to local papers only; kept alive by us pesking internet muckrakers...

I'm especially pissed at this one, because now I'm going to have to go home and change before I vote - I had intended to vote on my way home from work, but now I'll have to change into my Gadsden shirt first.

That is all.

Link sent by reader, commenter and purveyor of fine gun pr0n Stretch.