The reason behind the Middle east conflict. in 10 minutes or less
Friday, January 16, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
State Governors - Are They Really Necessary?
Does every state need a governor? Seriously, with all the out-of-work McDonald’s managers, can’t we find people to handle some of a governor’s administrative responsibilities on a part-time, hourly basis?
Wouldn’t we save a lot of aggravation that way?
Which gets me thinking about a statement issued on Friday, January 2nd by a useless organization called the Western Governors’ Association. Apparently they couldn’t get into the same country club as Arnold Schwarzenegger, so in hopes of reminding people just how “special” they are, they formed their own little group - like in school when the loser kids pretended they were speaking Klingon.
The Western Governors’ Association is comprised of the governors of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Colorado. Mostly the organization tries to deal with jackalope overpopulation and those cheesy bets governors make when one state’s football team is playing against another’s. But that’s not sufficient reason for the Western Governors’ Association to exist, because even governors with cowboy boots have egos - giant egos. And giant egos will always make you do dumb things.
Which gets us back to Friday, January 2nd. On January 2nd (the day after New Years for those of you in Rio Linda*) (*shamelessly stolen saying from Rush Limbaugh) the various egomaniacs of the Western Governors’ Association issued a statement on the Middle East. Specifically, the current chair of the association, Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr., decided the world needed to know what he felt about the fighting going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Huntsman Jr., who prefers to be called “Jesus”, had such a bad case of “I want to be president someday” that he had to issue a press release. It’s the day after New Year’s, it’s the deadest spot in the news calendar, absolutely nobody cares, and yet he fires off a press release.
In other words, on the day everyone else in his state was fired up about the University of Utah playing in the Sugar Bowl, the governor was pretending he was Jimmy Carter!
Oh, and by the way, yes, I’m a resident of the Great State of Utah. No, I didn’t vote for Governor Huntsman Jr.
Here’s what this bright bulb had to say –
For those who have lives, what’s happening over there is this: The Palestinians elected some terrorists named Hamas – the Arab word for “Democrats” – to run their country.
To Palestinians, that means “kill more Jews.” So, while they figured all the world would be busy on Christmas break, the Palestinians started firing missiles into Israel. Part of the calculation was that with the United States between administrations there’d be nobody to tell them to cut it out.
But there was a problem. The Israelis know about the new president, too, and they apparently figured that it might be easier to defend themselves before he takes office. So they fought back.
Let me repeat for the governors: One nation attacked another. The attacked nation fought back and the attacking nation has had its lunch handed to it.
This got all the world’s marching liberals ticked off. That’s because of their anti-jewish-itice (yes, it's a word... deal with it.). For liberals it is a simple equation: Israelis can do no right, Palestinians can do no wrong.
And this concerns very serious people on the evening news. And that concerns governors with too much time on their hands, which is how Friday’s statement came to be made. And all of that happened because the governors had their heads in a dark and unsanitary place, namely, they were sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.
Let’s review. Governors are elected to run states, even small states that pretty much run themselves. A governor of Utah, for example, would be in charge of Utah – if the Legislature is feeling generous. When something happens in Utah, that’s something the Utah governor would look into.
Now let’s review geography. The Middle East, though it is kind of dry and barren, is not in Utah. Actually, it’s not even close to Utah. In fact, it’s in an entirely different country, across an ocean, on another continent.
In other words, it’s none of Utah’s damn business. Same goes for Idaho, Colorado, Oregon and Wyoming.
No disrespect intended, but this is like a pre-schooler giving daddy driving advice. These governors are way out of their league. They have moved far beyond their responsibilities. They have presumed for themselves a relevance which they simply do not have.
Nobody gives a flying fig about what the governor of any American state thinks about some foreign war. All we have here is a display of comical self-importance.
Governors whose states have budget deficits, whose roads need paving and whose highway patrolmen need paying, who are facing increased gang violence and welfare dependency, those governors have decided to weigh in on the Arab-Israeli conflict. They ignore problems at home to opine on problems abroad.
Which honestly makes me wonder if they are necessary. If these states can get by with part-time legislatures – and all of them do – maybe they’d be better off if they also had part-time governors.
Wouldn’t we save a lot of aggravation that way?
Which gets me thinking about a statement issued on Friday, January 2nd by a useless organization called the Western Governors’ Association. Apparently they couldn’t get into the same country club as Arnold Schwarzenegger, so in hopes of reminding people just how “special” they are, they formed their own little group - like in school when the loser kids pretended they were speaking Klingon.
The Western Governors’ Association is comprised of the governors of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Colorado. Mostly the organization tries to deal with jackalope overpopulation and those cheesy bets governors make when one state’s football team is playing against another’s. But that’s not sufficient reason for the Western Governors’ Association to exist, because even governors with cowboy boots have egos - giant egos. And giant egos will always make you do dumb things.
Which gets us back to Friday, January 2nd. On January 2nd (the day after New Years for those of you in Rio Linda*) (*shamelessly stolen saying from Rush Limbaugh) the various egomaniacs of the Western Governors’ Association issued a statement on the Middle East. Specifically, the current chair of the association, Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr., decided the world needed to know what he felt about the fighting going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Huntsman Jr., who prefers to be called “Jesus”, had such a bad case of “I want to be president someday” that he had to issue a press release. It’s the day after New Year’s, it’s the deadest spot in the news calendar, absolutely nobody cares, and yet he fires off a press release.
In other words, on the day everyone else in his state was fired up about the University of Utah playing in the Sugar Bowl, the governor was pretending he was Jimmy Carter!
Oh, and by the way, yes, I’m a resident of the Great State of Utah. No, I didn’t vote for Governor Huntsman Jr.
Here’s what this bright bulb had to say –
“The recent increase in hostilities between Israel and Hamas is evidence that lasting peace in the region is an elusive goal. The deaths of innocent civilians on both sides of the border as a result of the hostilities are proof that we must continue to work toward peace, rather than resolving our disputes through aggression.
”We support the right of Israel to defend itself from aggressors and to ensure the peace and prosperity of its citizens.
”We, therefore, are calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas and the establishment of a lasting and meaningful cease-fire. For this process to begin, Hamas must end its series of rocket attacks into Israeli sovereign land. The two sides must then work together in good faith to work toward peace in the region.”
For those who have lives, what’s happening over there is this: The Palestinians elected some terrorists named Hamas – the Arab word for “Democrats” – to run their country.
To Palestinians, that means “kill more Jews.” So, while they figured all the world would be busy on Christmas break, the Palestinians started firing missiles into Israel. Part of the calculation was that with the United States between administrations there’d be nobody to tell them to cut it out.
But there was a problem. The Israelis know about the new president, too, and they apparently figured that it might be easier to defend themselves before he takes office. So they fought back.
Let me repeat for the governors: One nation attacked another. The attacked nation fought back and the attacking nation has had its lunch handed to it.
This got all the world’s marching liberals ticked off. That’s because of their anti-jewish-itice (yes, it's a word... deal with it.). For liberals it is a simple equation: Israelis can do no right, Palestinians can do no wrong.
And this concerns very serious people on the evening news. And that concerns governors with too much time on their hands, which is how Friday’s statement came to be made. And all of that happened because the governors had their heads in a dark and unsanitary place, namely, they were sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.
Let’s review. Governors are elected to run states, even small states that pretty much run themselves. A governor of Utah, for example, would be in charge of Utah – if the Legislature is feeling generous. When something happens in Utah, that’s something the Utah governor would look into.
Now let’s review geography. The Middle East, though it is kind of dry and barren, is not in Utah. Actually, it’s not even close to Utah. In fact, it’s in an entirely different country, across an ocean, on another continent.
In other words, it’s none of Utah’s damn business. Same goes for Idaho, Colorado, Oregon and Wyoming.
No disrespect intended, but this is like a pre-schooler giving daddy driving advice. These governors are way out of their league. They have moved far beyond their responsibilities. They have presumed for themselves a relevance which they simply do not have.
Nobody gives a flying fig about what the governor of any American state thinks about some foreign war. All we have here is a display of comical self-importance.
Governors whose states have budget deficits, whose roads need paving and whose highway patrolmen need paying, who are facing increased gang violence and welfare dependency, those governors have decided to weigh in on the Arab-Israeli conflict. They ignore problems at home to opine on problems abroad.
Which honestly makes me wonder if they are necessary. If these states can get by with part-time legislatures – and all of them do – maybe they’d be better off if they also had part-time governors.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Rumors of Layoffs
Layoffs hang like a dark cloud on the horizon. They are a storm which will come and pass, but where they will strike before they do, and whom they will take with them when they go, we cannot know. We are powerless in their face, we cannot stop them or avoid them, and they are not in our control, though we are very much in their control.
There are tens of millions of Americans who today know the truth of those words because there are, today, tens of millions of Americans who face the possibility of being laid off. It is the scourge of the season. It is whispered about at my work, it is whispered about at your work, it is trumpeted on the evening news.
But the one aspect of this that we do have control over is how we react, because if we react poorly, we make things worse. We weaken ourselves and our workplaces, we create needless angst and anxiety, and we spread a feeling of fear and hopelessness. And that is just the exact opposite of what we need. In times of uncertainty, confidence and courage are your best companions; worry and fret are soul-destroying poisons.
So here's the bottom line. Either you are going to get laid off, or you aren't. That's the way it is and there's nothing you can do about it. That's not fatalism, that's reality. It's a recognition of the fact that while it's OK to worry about things you can control, it is insane to worry about things you cannot control.
The layoffs rolling across our country are a reflection of general economic weakness. In many cases, those who lose their jobs won't deserve to lose their jobs - they personally will have done nothing wrong - so they are not at fault or to blame for getting fired. That fact is both torturous and liberating. It is unfair to be fired when you're doing a good job, but it is good to know that your own screw up didn't cost you your career. It is just dumb, blind luck, and the calculations of bosses with businesses to save.
As layoffs loom, people naturally speculate and theorize, trying to figure out who will and who won't be cut. These speculations can grow to near constant topics of conversation and can dominate one's thoughts. But they don't accomplish a thing, and they don't mean a thing. All they do is rile up and roil up; they spread a conspiratorial anxiety across a workplace. They sometimes create divisions that wouldn't otherwise exist, as people look at their co-workers and make an argument why one should go and another should stay.
It is an exacerbation of the dread, a group deathwatch that saps spirits, kills morale and hurts productivity. There's not much point in talking about it because nobody really knows, and no one will until they start calling us in. And when that happens - to ourselves or to others - the test of character begins. We will have to respond with maturity and grace, class and courage. Most importantly, we will have to avoid anger. Specifically, we will have to avoid being destroyed by anger because it can be a cancer that spreads like sewage in a stream. It can overtake and dominate our consciousness, and hurt us more than the loss of a job.
It is also unjustified because these layoffs are not punitive, they are not malicious. They are necessary. That's what makes all of this different. There is no corporate profit-taking going on. There is no outsourcing or union busting; this isn't about our companies turning on us.
This is about our companies fighting to survive. The economic model is being tested and strained, and right now some things just aren't working. And each company has an obligation to survive - too many people depend on them.
For many of us, our companies have employed and enriched us for years. As workers, we have been partners in great enterprises which have brought prosperity and sustenance to many. But now, some of those enterprises will go on without us, in order that they can go on at all.
That will be heartbreaking to some but beneficial to many. It will allow businesses to go forward, to employ who they can, and to be ready to grow and expand again when the economy straightens itself out.
So that's what we know about these looming layoffs. They are necessary and they are beyond our control, and ultimately our companies and our country will be better for them. We can't stop them, we can't predict them, we will ultimately benefit by them. And whether they hit us or our friends, we will all be better if we meet them with courage and confidence instead of fear and worry.
I don't want to get laid off, and neither do you. But let us have courage and go forward with confidence. There is a dark cloud on the horizon, but it's not the end of the world.
And we shouldn't act like it is.
There are tens of millions of Americans who today know the truth of those words because there are, today, tens of millions of Americans who face the possibility of being laid off. It is the scourge of the season. It is whispered about at my work, it is whispered about at your work, it is trumpeted on the evening news.
But the one aspect of this that we do have control over is how we react, because if we react poorly, we make things worse. We weaken ourselves and our workplaces, we create needless angst and anxiety, and we spread a feeling of fear and hopelessness. And that is just the exact opposite of what we need. In times of uncertainty, confidence and courage are your best companions; worry and fret are soul-destroying poisons.
So here's the bottom line. Either you are going to get laid off, or you aren't. That's the way it is and there's nothing you can do about it. That's not fatalism, that's reality. It's a recognition of the fact that while it's OK to worry about things you can control, it is insane to worry about things you cannot control.
The layoffs rolling across our country are a reflection of general economic weakness. In many cases, those who lose their jobs won't deserve to lose their jobs - they personally will have done nothing wrong - so they are not at fault or to blame for getting fired. That fact is both torturous and liberating. It is unfair to be fired when you're doing a good job, but it is good to know that your own screw up didn't cost you your career. It is just dumb, blind luck, and the calculations of bosses with businesses to save.
As layoffs loom, people naturally speculate and theorize, trying to figure out who will and who won't be cut. These speculations can grow to near constant topics of conversation and can dominate one's thoughts. But they don't accomplish a thing, and they don't mean a thing. All they do is rile up and roil up; they spread a conspiratorial anxiety across a workplace. They sometimes create divisions that wouldn't otherwise exist, as people look at their co-workers and make an argument why one should go and another should stay.
It is an exacerbation of the dread, a group deathwatch that saps spirits, kills morale and hurts productivity. There's not much point in talking about it because nobody really knows, and no one will until they start calling us in. And when that happens - to ourselves or to others - the test of character begins. We will have to respond with maturity and grace, class and courage. Most importantly, we will have to avoid anger. Specifically, we will have to avoid being destroyed by anger because it can be a cancer that spreads like sewage in a stream. It can overtake and dominate our consciousness, and hurt us more than the loss of a job.
It is also unjustified because these layoffs are not punitive, they are not malicious. They are necessary. That's what makes all of this different. There is no corporate profit-taking going on. There is no outsourcing or union busting; this isn't about our companies turning on us.
This is about our companies fighting to survive. The economic model is being tested and strained, and right now some things just aren't working. And each company has an obligation to survive - too many people depend on them.
For many of us, our companies have employed and enriched us for years. As workers, we have been partners in great enterprises which have brought prosperity and sustenance to many. But now, some of those enterprises will go on without us, in order that they can go on at all.
That will be heartbreaking to some but beneficial to many. It will allow businesses to go forward, to employ who they can, and to be ready to grow and expand again when the economy straightens itself out.
So that's what we know about these looming layoffs. They are necessary and they are beyond our control, and ultimately our companies and our country will be better for them. We can't stop them, we can't predict them, we will ultimately benefit by them. And whether they hit us or our friends, we will all be better if we meet them with courage and confidence instead of fear and worry.
I don't want to get laid off, and neither do you. But let us have courage and go forward with confidence. There is a dark cloud on the horizon, but it's not the end of the world.
And we shouldn't act like it is.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Global Climate Warming Change?
Thomas Lifson over at American Thinker has put together a post that, think would be a real eye opener for anyone in the throws of global warming guilt.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/12/documenting_the_global_warming.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/01/documenting_the_global_warming_1.html
Talks about the placement of the sensors used to gather the data used to measure Global Warming. or, as they are calling it now, Climate change.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/12/documenting_the_global_warming.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/01/documenting_the_global_warming_1.html
Talks about the placement of the sensors used to gather the data used to measure Global Warming. or, as they are calling it now, Climate change.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Quality Time
Ya know what I hate? Well hate may be to strong a word. Lets try despise, ya, that works.
Ya know what I despise? I despise when real life gets in the way of either my Blogging time OR Gaming time. Of course i have to work a full time job, I am married and this takes alot of time my job takes 8 hours a day so that is a third of my day. I have to sleep.
I know I know... sounds like excuses, you say, welcome to the club. Ya know its not that i hate real life or my life for that matter. I have a lovely wife that i love more than anything else and a great kid who is in college at the age of 16. Very proud of him.
We at one time had a game night. Once a week we would gather arround the table and play cards, Poker, pitch, Canasta, hold 'em or a board game. we have a game we call marbles, kind of like a Sorry or similar game. You roll dice and move around the board till you get 'home'. Good Times.
Statistics show that Families that spend more 'quality' time together tend to be happier and have better relationships. That make sense, don't ya think? How much conversation do you get sitting arround a TV? Think about it i'll wait...
...
Well let me tell you. when we are engrossed in a show there is no conversation, as a matter of fact, there is a concious effort to squelch conversation so we do not miss anything happening in the lives of a character in a fantasy world based on events real or imagined.
connect with your Families. Read together, read the same book, not nessasarily the same copy but the same book. Get arround the table and play a game. Talk for God's sake. You may be able to fix something you didn't know was broke.
Ya know what I despise? I despise when real life gets in the way of either my Blogging time OR Gaming time. Of course i have to work a full time job, I am married and this takes alot of time my job takes 8 hours a day so that is a third of my day. I have to sleep.
I know I know... sounds like excuses, you say, welcome to the club. Ya know its not that i hate real life or my life for that matter. I have a lovely wife that i love more than anything else and a great kid who is in college at the age of 16. Very proud of him.
We at one time had a game night. Once a week we would gather arround the table and play cards, Poker, pitch, Canasta, hold 'em or a board game. we have a game we call marbles, kind of like a Sorry or similar game. You roll dice and move around the board till you get 'home'. Good Times.
Statistics show that Families that spend more 'quality' time together tend to be happier and have better relationships. That make sense, don't ya think? How much conversation do you get sitting arround a TV? Think about it i'll wait...
...
Well let me tell you. when we are engrossed in a show there is no conversation, as a matter of fact, there is a concious effort to squelch conversation so we do not miss anything happening in the lives of a character in a fantasy world based on events real or imagined.
connect with your Families. Read together, read the same book, not nessasarily the same copy but the same book. Get arround the table and play a game. Talk for God's sake. You may be able to fix something you didn't know was broke.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
PC Gone Amuck
I have said for a long time, Longer than i have been publishing to this blog, that PC will kill us all. Well now it seems that it is not only not PC to be a white male, but if you are such they want you to die as well.
Cystic fibrosis too 'white' for Ottawa fundraiser
The Carleton University Students' Association has voted to drop a cystic fibrosis charity as the beneficiary of its annual Shinearama fundraiser, supporting a motion that argued the disease is not "inclusive" enough.
Cystic fibrosis "has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men" said the motion read Monday night to student councillors, who voted almost unanimously in favour of it.
I guess you do not deserve help if you are a white guy.
You know what? I will cling to my God and my Gun and those 'antiques' will see me through what ever else may come. Frankly, i do not want any one's help. There are always strings.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Government
This is what happens when corrupt Government targets certain industries for oppression. One man stood up for freedom and was gunned down for his trouble. Whether you agree with what he was doing or not, this is what tyranny brings.
Gordy Wheeler's strip clubs, bars, restaurants — and prostitution stings at his business — made him a regular visitor to the halls of Morrison County government, its courtrooms and its public record.
So it was only slightly unusual that Wheeler, dressed in long underwear, bib overalls and a Camp Bar cap, sat quietly in the audience as county commissioners started to put the wraps on their meeting that sweltering June day.
More unusual was that the board's agenda that day contained no business regarding Wheeler. The county and Wheeler first bumped heads in 1982, and met numerous times in contentious commission meetings and court hearings during the next 25 years. The legal docket had been lopsided and not in Wheeler's favor.
A jury convicted him of promoting prostitution, and he spent thousands in legal fees and fines to pay for civil actions brought against him by the county for zoning and health violations. Now banks had taken one business and a letter informed him they would claim the other.
At 60, he had slipped into financial ruin and blamed a vast government conspiracy targeted at him and his businesses.
As commissioners considered a motion to adjourn the June 24 meeting, Wheeler calmly rose to his feet. Before the vote could be taken, and the public record closed, Wheeler cocked the hammer of a 9 mm Beretta pistol.
He had brought his business to the board that day, and they were going to listen.
"What are we going to do about the Camp Store, boys," Wheeler asked, "and all the corruption?"
What followed were the last 21 minutes of the life of Gordon Kenneth Wheeler Sr. A man universally described as litigious but respectful, hard-headed but thoughtful, would hold those four commissioners and three other county officials hostage, forcing three law enforcement officers to make their most difficult professional decisions.
It was a desperate choice and a violent end for a nonviolent man whose family watched him tire from defeat after defeat. His countless battles with the county over his businesses, accompanying liquor licenses and criminal activity left him with nothing to lose, he told commissioners that day.
They had taken everything from him and couldn't put it back, he said, as he held the gun to the head of the county administrator. As his options dwindled, the walls squeezing in on him for years had begun to collapse.
Making money
Gordy was a local boy who learned early how to make a quick buck.
He and his brother, Don, were youngsters when they would hitchhike from the Little Falls area to Camp Ripley and shine shoes for soldiers.
Gordy enlisted in the Navy Reserves in 1966, when he was in high school, and he served on the USS America before being honorably discharged in October 1970.
He worked for a time in the Twin Cities but always wanted to return to start a business in the Ripley area. In 1981, he got his chance when he bought Camp Bar, a bar within walking distance for soldiers at the camp.
With an eye to the fast buck that could be made from all those soldiers, Wheeler offered lingerie nights, then topless dancing.
It wasn't long before it prompted citations for indecent exposure at the bar.
An ally in the early days of Wheeler's clashes in court was Judge George Wetzel, father of Michel Wetzel, who is now Morrison County sheriff.
It was Judge Wetzel who dismissed indecent exposure charges against Wheeler, when he determined that laws at the time didn't allow the township to enact ordinances against nude dancing.
It was a decision that kept Wheeler's bar in the business of nude dancing, a polarizing and politically divisive issue at the time.
"They came after him immediately," said his son, Gordy Jr. "And over the years, they beat him down with everything because they couldn't close him down the first time."
Don Wheeler, Gordy Sr.'s brother, sees it the same way.
"It seemed like every time he turned around and went to the county for a permit to do this or that, it always seemed like they gave him a hard time."
Building problems
Gordy didn't always abide by the terms of permits, though, and when he built an addition to the Camp Bar under the guise of it being a "storage shed," the county tried to halt construction.
Wheeler completed the structure in 2001 and applied for an after-the-fact land-use permit for a walkway to connect the two.
The county denied the request. Wheeler ignored the county's letters and built it anyway.
In late 2001 or early 2002, Wheeler began operating the Krazy Rabbit sports bar adjacent to the Camp Bar.
At about the same time, the county imposed a one-year moratorium on new adult businesses, which eventually was extended to two years.
Wheeler saw it as a direct attack and pushed back. As the moratorium was about to expire in November 2003, Wheeler tried to open Lookin' Fine Smut and Porno near Swanville.
"They had been on his case so bad," said Don Wheeler. "How did he rebel? He brought in X-rated magazines. That was his attitude. 'You don't like it, fine. Then I'll bring in this stuff.' That was his logic in trying to deal with them when everything else had failed."
He never got Lookin' Fine open, and days later, the county amended its adult- use ordinances and imposed setback requirements that Wheeler and his attorney argued were tailored to prohibit only Wheeler's business.
"He gives the county board a bunch of grief and then they deny him permission to develop his main property (at Camp Ripley) the way he wants to, so he writes a letter to the county board saying he intends to open a second use," said Randall Tigue, Wheeler's lawyer. "And within two weeks, the county board passes a moratorium saying no new adult uses anywhere in the county. He was about to develop a perfectly legal use at his existing location. The county rewrites the ordinance … to make it just large enough so his proposed use is prohibited."
The county also used septic system health ordinances to prevent Wheeler from operating Lookin' Fine.
Above law
In April and August 2005 Wheeler would be arrested twice in a five-month period in prostitution stings at Camp Bar. A Morrison County jury convicted Wheeler on charges from one of the arrests and found him not guilty on the other.
"The one thing you could get definitely from Gordy during his testimony (at trial) is that Gordy seemed to think he was ever-so-slightly above the law — not Nixon-above-the-law type of thing — but that he was just clever enough to do everything he had to to skirt the edge, and that he was smarter than we were," said Todd Kosovich, the assistant county attorney who prosecuted the prostitution cases.
Listen to prosecutor Todd Kosovich discuss his perception of Gordy Wheeler Sr. in court.
"He couldn't imagine why we were bothering him. This is a guy who really doesn't care what the rules are."
The rules weren't applied evenly to all county residents, Wheeler's family said. In fact, they argued that certain anti-nudity laws were tailored for Wheeler's businesses alone.
Wheeler spent several weeks in jail for the prostitution conviction, which also branded him a felon. As such, he couldn't get a liquor license.
The legal losses piled up. "He felt he was victimized by bigoted government officials, and the judiciary turned a blind eye," Tigue said.
Morrison County wasn't out to get Wheeler, said former County Administrator Tim Houle, who left in July to take the same position in Crow Wing County.
"They were out to have him follow the same rules that everybody else is expected to follow," Houle said. "It was never about being moralistic about what he did."
If Wheeler had followed those rules, he likely would still be in business, Houle speculates. "But he saw it as an effort to persecute, so he resisted at every turn."
Listen to Tim Houle: "He continued to lose the significant issues..."
Pushing limits
The legal and financial losses piled up and weighed on Wheeler, said his wife, Kathy.
"Gordy was pretty spunky. And toward the end, I used to watch him. He'd be walking around out there," she said, motioning to the land outside their house, "and I thought to myself, 'My God they've just brought him down to, like, a little old man.'"
Listen to Kathy Wheeler discuss the toll the legal losses took on her husband.
Don Wheeler, who like Gordy Sr. was battling diabetes, could also see the changes. He recalls watching Gordy's nervous habit of bouncing his foot off the ground when he sat.
"I saw that it was getting worse. He couldn't stop the leg from moving," Don Wheeler said. "I knew this was eating at him."
Nobody who knew Wheeler saw a violent side to him. Kosovich, who prosecuted the prostitution case, thought Wheeler "would litigate us to death" rather than resort to violence. "I didn't expect he'd bring a gun," Kosovich said.
Listen to prosecutor Todd Kosovich talk about Wheeler's nonviolent nature.
Neither did Kathy and Gordy Jr.
"He was no different that morning than he was any other morning," Kathy Wheeler said. "He was not different the day before or the day before that or the day before that. He was Gordy.
"Let's face it. We knew he was down in the dumps. You can't deny that. He was losing everything. (But) we could sit around and talk, and we would laugh, and kids would come over and we would have fun."
Tigue says he also wouldn't have predicted Wheeler's actions. "I guess there's limits on how much persecution a guy can take."
Targets
Commissioner Tom Wenzel had known of Wheeler for three decades.
That June day in the boardroom, Wheeler recalled a visit he once paid to Wenzel's Randall farm to discuss his business issues.
Wheeler was never rude or threatening, Wenzel said.
During a 10-minute board recess earlier in the day, Wenzel passed Wheeler on the stairs as he headed to the restroom. He noticed the red bandanna in Wheeler's hand.
Wenzel said good morning.
There he is, Wheeler replied.
When Wenzel reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked back up.
Wheeler was staring down at him.
The bandanna concealed the handgun that Wheeler soon would be waving around the boardroom.
"I think the first thing that hit me is that this cannot be happening. Shock and disbelief is what I felt," County Attorney Brian Middendorf said. "He's simply not a violent person. He's never been a violent person, has no history of violence."
It surprised Houle as well.
"I think we were aware that the walls around Gordon had continued to get smaller and smaller and smaller," Houle said. "That said, he had given absolutely no previous indication of a tendency toward violence ... I kind of liked Gordon. I didn't agree with Gordon, but he was never disagreeable."
Middendorf had even helped Wheeler once, after a man was convicted of assaulting Wheeler.
Wheeler was seeking restitution from the man, and Middendorf asked Wheeler questions during a hearing to determine what the man owed Wheeler.
Now Wheeler was holding a gun near the heads of Middendorf and Houle and the county was a target.
In an interview this month, Middendorf declined to discuss his thoughts and feelings at that moment. It's not something he wants to dwell on, he said, and not something he cares to discuss with the media — or privately.
But his words to a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator in the hours after the standoff ended capture the desperation and fear inside the boardroom that day.
"I thought about my family," Middendorf told BCA Senior Special Agent Brian Marquart, "and my wife and my daughter and … how this could be the last day of my life. I thought about dying, and those were the two things that kept circling in my mind."
"My place was beneath you, but now I am above and now I send you a message of love. I know I'm headed for the bottom but I'm riding you all the way." -- Soundgarden.
Gordy Wheeler's strip clubs, bars, restaurants — and prostitution stings at his business — made him a regular visitor to the halls of Morrison County government, its courtrooms and its public record.
So it was only slightly unusual that Wheeler, dressed in long underwear, bib overalls and a Camp Bar cap, sat quietly in the audience as county commissioners started to put the wraps on their meeting that sweltering June day.
More unusual was that the board's agenda that day contained no business regarding Wheeler. The county and Wheeler first bumped heads in 1982, and met numerous times in contentious commission meetings and court hearings during the next 25 years. The legal docket had been lopsided and not in Wheeler's favor.
A jury convicted him of promoting prostitution, and he spent thousands in legal fees and fines to pay for civil actions brought against him by the county for zoning and health violations. Now banks had taken one business and a letter informed him they would claim the other.
At 60, he had slipped into financial ruin and blamed a vast government conspiracy targeted at him and his businesses.
As commissioners considered a motion to adjourn the June 24 meeting, Wheeler calmly rose to his feet. Before the vote could be taken, and the public record closed, Wheeler cocked the hammer of a 9 mm Beretta pistol.
He had brought his business to the board that day, and they were going to listen.
"What are we going to do about the Camp Store, boys," Wheeler asked, "and all the corruption?"
What followed were the last 21 minutes of the life of Gordon Kenneth Wheeler Sr. A man universally described as litigious but respectful, hard-headed but thoughtful, would hold those four commissioners and three other county officials hostage, forcing three law enforcement officers to make their most difficult professional decisions.
It was a desperate choice and a violent end for a nonviolent man whose family watched him tire from defeat after defeat. His countless battles with the county over his businesses, accompanying liquor licenses and criminal activity left him with nothing to lose, he told commissioners that day.
They had taken everything from him and couldn't put it back, he said, as he held the gun to the head of the county administrator. As his options dwindled, the walls squeezing in on him for years had begun to collapse.
Making money
Gordy was a local boy who learned early how to make a quick buck.
He and his brother, Don, were youngsters when they would hitchhike from the Little Falls area to Camp Ripley and shine shoes for soldiers.
Gordy enlisted in the Navy Reserves in 1966, when he was in high school, and he served on the USS America before being honorably discharged in October 1970.
He worked for a time in the Twin Cities but always wanted to return to start a business in the Ripley area. In 1981, he got his chance when he bought Camp Bar, a bar within walking distance for soldiers at the camp.
With an eye to the fast buck that could be made from all those soldiers, Wheeler offered lingerie nights, then topless dancing.
It wasn't long before it prompted citations for indecent exposure at the bar.
An ally in the early days of Wheeler's clashes in court was Judge George Wetzel, father of Michel Wetzel, who is now Morrison County sheriff.
It was Judge Wetzel who dismissed indecent exposure charges against Wheeler, when he determined that laws at the time didn't allow the township to enact ordinances against nude dancing.
It was a decision that kept Wheeler's bar in the business of nude dancing, a polarizing and politically divisive issue at the time.
"They came after him immediately," said his son, Gordy Jr. "And over the years, they beat him down with everything because they couldn't close him down the first time."
Don Wheeler, Gordy Sr.'s brother, sees it the same way.
"It seemed like every time he turned around and went to the county for a permit to do this or that, it always seemed like they gave him a hard time."
Building problems
Gordy didn't always abide by the terms of permits, though, and when he built an addition to the Camp Bar under the guise of it being a "storage shed," the county tried to halt construction.
Wheeler completed the structure in 2001 and applied for an after-the-fact land-use permit for a walkway to connect the two.
The county denied the request. Wheeler ignored the county's letters and built it anyway.
In late 2001 or early 2002, Wheeler began operating the Krazy Rabbit sports bar adjacent to the Camp Bar.
At about the same time, the county imposed a one-year moratorium on new adult businesses, which eventually was extended to two years.
Wheeler saw it as a direct attack and pushed back. As the moratorium was about to expire in November 2003, Wheeler tried to open Lookin' Fine Smut and Porno near Swanville.
"They had been on his case so bad," said Don Wheeler. "How did he rebel? He brought in X-rated magazines. That was his attitude. 'You don't like it, fine. Then I'll bring in this stuff.' That was his logic in trying to deal with them when everything else had failed."
He never got Lookin' Fine open, and days later, the county amended its adult- use ordinances and imposed setback requirements that Wheeler and his attorney argued were tailored to prohibit only Wheeler's business.
"He gives the county board a bunch of grief and then they deny him permission to develop his main property (at Camp Ripley) the way he wants to, so he writes a letter to the county board saying he intends to open a second use," said Randall Tigue, Wheeler's lawyer. "And within two weeks, the county board passes a moratorium saying no new adult uses anywhere in the county. He was about to develop a perfectly legal use at his existing location. The county rewrites the ordinance … to make it just large enough so his proposed use is prohibited."
The county also used septic system health ordinances to prevent Wheeler from operating Lookin' Fine.
Above law
In April and August 2005 Wheeler would be arrested twice in a five-month period in prostitution stings at Camp Bar. A Morrison County jury convicted Wheeler on charges from one of the arrests and found him not guilty on the other.
"The one thing you could get definitely from Gordy during his testimony (at trial) is that Gordy seemed to think he was ever-so-slightly above the law — not Nixon-above-the-law type of thing — but that he was just clever enough to do everything he had to to skirt the edge, and that he was smarter than we were," said Todd Kosovich, the assistant county attorney who prosecuted the prostitution cases.
Listen to prosecutor Todd Kosovich discuss his perception of Gordy Wheeler Sr. in court.
"He couldn't imagine why we were bothering him. This is a guy who really doesn't care what the rules are."
The rules weren't applied evenly to all county residents, Wheeler's family said. In fact, they argued that certain anti-nudity laws were tailored for Wheeler's businesses alone.
Wheeler spent several weeks in jail for the prostitution conviction, which also branded him a felon. As such, he couldn't get a liquor license.
The legal losses piled up. "He felt he was victimized by bigoted government officials, and the judiciary turned a blind eye," Tigue said.
Morrison County wasn't out to get Wheeler, said former County Administrator Tim Houle, who left in July to take the same position in Crow Wing County.
"They were out to have him follow the same rules that everybody else is expected to follow," Houle said. "It was never about being moralistic about what he did."
If Wheeler had followed those rules, he likely would still be in business, Houle speculates. "But he saw it as an effort to persecute, so he resisted at every turn."
Listen to Tim Houle: "He continued to lose the significant issues..."
Pushing limits
The legal and financial losses piled up and weighed on Wheeler, said his wife, Kathy.
"Gordy was pretty spunky. And toward the end, I used to watch him. He'd be walking around out there," she said, motioning to the land outside their house, "and I thought to myself, 'My God they've just brought him down to, like, a little old man.'"
Listen to Kathy Wheeler discuss the toll the legal losses took on her husband.
Don Wheeler, who like Gordy Sr. was battling diabetes, could also see the changes. He recalls watching Gordy's nervous habit of bouncing his foot off the ground when he sat.
"I saw that it was getting worse. He couldn't stop the leg from moving," Don Wheeler said. "I knew this was eating at him."
Nobody who knew Wheeler saw a violent side to him. Kosovich, who prosecuted the prostitution case, thought Wheeler "would litigate us to death" rather than resort to violence. "I didn't expect he'd bring a gun," Kosovich said.
Listen to prosecutor Todd Kosovich talk about Wheeler's nonviolent nature.
Neither did Kathy and Gordy Jr.
"He was no different that morning than he was any other morning," Kathy Wheeler said. "He was not different the day before or the day before that or the day before that. He was Gordy.
"Let's face it. We knew he was down in the dumps. You can't deny that. He was losing everything. (But) we could sit around and talk, and we would laugh, and kids would come over and we would have fun."
Tigue says he also wouldn't have predicted Wheeler's actions. "I guess there's limits on how much persecution a guy can take."
Targets
Commissioner Tom Wenzel had known of Wheeler for three decades.
That June day in the boardroom, Wheeler recalled a visit he once paid to Wenzel's Randall farm to discuss his business issues.
Wheeler was never rude or threatening, Wenzel said.
During a 10-minute board recess earlier in the day, Wenzel passed Wheeler on the stairs as he headed to the restroom. He noticed the red bandanna in Wheeler's hand.
Wenzel said good morning.
There he is, Wheeler replied.
When Wenzel reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked back up.
Wheeler was staring down at him.
The bandanna concealed the handgun that Wheeler soon would be waving around the boardroom.
"I think the first thing that hit me is that this cannot be happening. Shock and disbelief is what I felt," County Attorney Brian Middendorf said. "He's simply not a violent person. He's never been a violent person, has no history of violence."
It surprised Houle as well.
"I think we were aware that the walls around Gordon had continued to get smaller and smaller and smaller," Houle said. "That said, he had given absolutely no previous indication of a tendency toward violence ... I kind of liked Gordon. I didn't agree with Gordon, but he was never disagreeable."
Middendorf had even helped Wheeler once, after a man was convicted of assaulting Wheeler.
Wheeler was seeking restitution from the man, and Middendorf asked Wheeler questions during a hearing to determine what the man owed Wheeler.
Now Wheeler was holding a gun near the heads of Middendorf and Houle and the county was a target.
In an interview this month, Middendorf declined to discuss his thoughts and feelings at that moment. It's not something he wants to dwell on, he said, and not something he cares to discuss with the media — or privately.
But his words to a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator in the hours after the standoff ended capture the desperation and fear inside the boardroom that day.
"I thought about my family," Middendorf told BCA Senior Special Agent Brian Marquart, "and my wife and my daughter and … how this could be the last day of my life. I thought about dying, and those were the two things that kept circling in my mind."
"My place was beneath you, but now I am above and now I send you a message of love. I know I'm headed for the bottom but I'm riding you all the way." -- Soundgarden.
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