The Law

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law!

Gigantour, St. Paul, Minnesota

Spent Valentine's Day at the Gigantour, courtesy of my wife!

Here's my brief review in order of bands playing:

Lacuna Coil: My first time seeing this band I've liked for a long time, since their Comalies release in 2002. They were already playing at 6:3o when we got there. Even though the doors opened at 6 and the show wasn't supposed to start until 7 PM. I think we only missed part of the first song. They are of the Italian metal genre I really love, melodic metal with a mix of growling and clear vocals, and Cristina Scabbia's vocals were fantastic. I was totally impressed and will definitely continue to buy their releases and see them again. Their music was tight and in my opinion Lacuna Coil should not have been the early band, Volbeat should have.

Volbeat: The second band to play was Volbeat. I'd never seen these Danish rockers before and they were alright. They opened with Warrior, the song the radio stations are pushing the hell out of. Their style ranged between 70's style riff rock like Warrior and NY punk. They didn't seem to have a consistent style and my favorite song was when they ended their set by playing the beginning of Slayer's, Angel of Death.

Motorhead: What can I say? They were the most energetic band with the most stage presence of the night. Lemmy's playing and vocals were top notch, Phil Campbell's guitar playing was awesome and Micky Dee is one of metals' best drummers. They pulled some great tunes from 1916 out of the hat and played one of my all time favorites, Killed by Death.

Megadeth: I've seen this band many, many times. Sometimes they are great, like during the United Abominations tour and other times not. This was a good show. They opened with Trust and seemed a little rough until mid set when Lacuna Coil's, Christina Scabbia joined then to sing A Tout Le Monde on stage. They then went into a lot of their new material, which was excellent and ended with their classics like Peace Sells, etc. All in all a good set.

The Venue was The Myth Nightclub in St. Paul, Minnesota. The sound system was excellent and that's all I can say good about the club. It was so fuckin' crowded that no one could move. If Great White were playing we would have all died! We stood in one place for 5 hours, only buying 1 beer each at the beginning and being afraid and unable to get to the bar for more, or even using the bathroom for fear of losing our spot and being relegated to the many spots off to the side with no view. I much prefer First Avenue or the Roy Wilkins Auditorium for this type of show.

The Problem With Democracy

Today the Star Tribune is reporting just another example of our governments' disdain for Democracy and citizens. The City of Minneapolis wants the new Viking's stadium built there, but there's this pesky law that says the City cannot spend more then $10,000,000 on a stadium without voter approval. You would think Mayor Ryback would be scurrying to get a referendum going, but oh no, that's no longer the American way.  "... the mayor and council President Barb Johnson would like the Legislature to override it." 


That's right the Mayor and City Council president plan to get the Minnesota legislature to override the law!. Unfortunately, there will probably be enough legislators more interested in a football team then Democracy.


Should this surprise us? Politicians decide THEY want something and then proceed to do whatever it takes to get it done, regardless of the will of the people or law. Rather then actually do the referendum and see what the citizens want, they damn the torpedoes and move on.This is why we are damned. 

Heavy Metal Cooking

This is what Democracy looks like?

On Wednesday December 14, 2011 the Metropolitan Council "voted" to increase Minnesotan's property taxes by 2%. While as a working citizen I am accustomed to tax increases, this tax increase came not from elected representatives, but appointed officials. The Met Council is appointed by the Governor. I believe this is an illegal tax increase.

What is more shocking is to see who some of these appointees are that raised our taxes:

Adam Duininck, Legislative and Political Director, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49

Jennifer Munt, Public Affairs Director, AFSCME Council 5
















Edward Reynoso, Political Director and Special Projects Coordinator, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council 32


That's right, these are big labor people who are supposed to be representing their working class members and instead are raising their taxes at a time that their union members have been experiencing wage freezes and lay offs. 


The final hypocrisy is that AFSCME Council 5 and the Teamsters have voiced support for the Occupy Movement. A movement that regularly chants, "This is what Democracy looks like."  Then they raise taxes on the 99%!


Am I the only one that sees a problem with big labor being in bed with big government? We all lose. 




Sources:Star Tribune,
 http://www.metrocouncil.org/about/members.htm,
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/teamsters-vote-official-support-of-occupy-wall-street-133918623.html
http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-wall-street-and-teamsters-occupy-sothebys-t/
http://afscmemn.org/occupy-minnesota!

Ed Reynoso's Met Council to raise your property tax

In typical commie fashion the Twin Cities unelected Met Council raised our property taxes.

Citing a need for more money to fund community development, the Metropolitan Council Wednesday approved a 2 percent property tax increase for next year.

The Met Council oversees transit, wastewater treatment and low- and moderate-income housing in much of the seven-county Twin Cities area. (Full Story Star Tribune)

The Met Council is an appointed body by Governor Mark Dayton. It includes Teamsters Joint Council 32 DRIVE Representative Ed Reynoso. He's a Teamsters paid lobbyist who makes $115,000 a year from members dues and an additional $38,000 a year from the Met Council (taxpayer money) who just cost working families another tax increase. Mr. Reynoso sits on the Environment and Transportation Committees. The very ones who gave us the tax increase.

Where was this dedicated Teamster lobbyist when the Minnesota Government shut down last summer? At the Capitol trying to help shut out workers? No, he was in Las Vegas! It was more important for him to help out Hoffa.

No one voted for you, this is the picture of taxation without representation. This is the picture of fat cats once again going after working peoples money. How much will Ed Reynoso and the Met Council cost us in their fight for socialism? And I thought he was all about "taxing the rich."

Greetings from Krampus