I'm a libertarian. I believe in freedoms, especially for a deed-holding business owner, to choose what he allows, within legal limits, on his property. Well, what is not legal, is to allow drug deals, prostitution, underage drinking. As a libertarian we're always met with these large questions. In a libertarian society, wouldn't drugs and prostitution be legal? Somewhere along the line it became acceptable in society to draw the line somewhere. Even though I don't believe those activites necessarily hurt anyone, I think that persons under the age of 18 don't need to be participating in drugs, alcohol, or prostitution. There's plenty of time for that, hold on to youth as long as possible.

As of midnight Oct. 1 there's a state wide smoking ban in Minnesota. I am on the fence about this issue for the sole reason that laboratory tests, irrefutable evidence, shows that secondhand smoke actually kills other people. This makes it an issue different from allergies, such as to perfumes, pollen, and dust. However, some allergies, such as peanut allergies, can result in death. I know several places where all peanut related products are strictly banned.

I guess it boils down to an economic question. For as long as bars, bowling alleys, and restaurants who do not allow smoking lose revenue, there will always be an economic motivator for allowing indoor smoking for patrons or risk losing that revenue. With the ban, all establishments are on a level playing field.

I do care about small business owners. I care about them so much that I believe some of their tax burdens should be eliminated. I also believe small business owners have to carry too much for their employees.

There's a tipping point for every societal change. There was once a time, in the old west, when during celebrations in the street, firearms would be discharched. Once in a while a stray bullet would hit an innocent bystander. Today it's called gang violence and perps are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The tide is slowly changing in regards to the cigarettes. This is an evolutionary step for us as a society at large. Our children's generation could repeal the smoking law and there would probably be an intrinsic common sense that we had been waiting on for some time that never arrived due to the staunch beliefs of smokers for their rights and their anti-belief in the hard cold facts that their habits contribute to the deaths of others. We've been waiting and waiting for businesses to self-regulate and the non-libertarians couldn't wait but had to impose their laws.

I believe that this may be a leap of faith for any libertarian that the end may justify the means, the end result being, that our children will not find secondhand smoke acceptable in public and therefore -- repeal away! Bring back the gunslingers and them old faggies.

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MN seed art

The Seed Art keeps you coming back for more. A year's anticipation is satisfied when you reach the Seed Art display in the Horticulture building and it's revealed whose likeness has been captured by the placement of hundreds of tiny seeds and beans. Every movie star and president that is honored by this legume tradition is better than anything that won a ribbon in the Fine Arts building. Seed Art is where the true talent lies on these fair grounds.

MN linus

Another great example of MN at its artsiness are these CRAZY Peanuts painted fiberglass figures! First it was Snoopy, then Charlie Brown, and it seems ANYBODY could get in on the gag, except WOODSTOCK! Personally, I find this photo a little disturbing.

MN fat fair

So little time . . . so much Deep Fried Spam on a Stick . . . .

Glass_of_beer

This year they quit selling 3.2 beer, they have the STRONG stuff

which leads to this:

Which leads to this!

MN Fair preggo

Party on!

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Garden success. We survived the drought, now there's been rain for a week.

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“I’m basically a libertarian. I don’t want to restrict anyone from doing anything unless it’s going to harm me. I don’t want [to] pass a law stopping someone from smoking. It’s just too dangerous. You lose the concept of a free society. Since we are genetically so diverse and our brains are so different, we’re going to have different aspirations.”

                                                                        —James Watson
Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of DNA

If you examine this statement, there is a contradiction. Smoking's harmful. I don't think we should outlaw smoking and I also believe in legalizing other substances, especially marijuana. In a libertarian society a business owner should be able to decide whether people can smoke in their place of business or not. This climate of regulation needs fine tuning. It's my perception there are an increased number of smokers who don't even smoke in their own houses any more. For one thing it devalues the property. It's almost impossible to clean that smell out of a house. It seems to me, some addicted smokers are so influenced by their chemistry they will refute the facts of secondhand smoke. With the economic climate of having to cater to all clientele, the government stepped in to ban smoking in all public places, including restaurants and some bars, which has caused a huge chasm between smokers clamoring for rights and non-smokers clamoring for rights. If you isolate the one factor that secondhand smoke is toxic and harmful, you still open up a debate. So it needs to be coupled with other factors to equate a sum. It's a mystery to me why this is even an issue, in this day and age, of all the facts and information, that people can't just recognize what they do is, even if they disagree with the harmfulness, to at least say, well, my smoke is smelly and maybe people who are eating don't like to smell a cigarette. But instead, the government made a regulation. So, I consider that anti-libertarian, and unfair to the business owners. So as I said earlier, it's kind of a gray area. I can only surmise as a non smoker there is some chemical in cigarettes that makes smokers very loyal and under a strong influence.

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Round Lake, Wisconsin

Jet skiing

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

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Big head sunflower

NEVER GIVE UP!

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How old were you when you had your very first boyfriend/girlfriend? Do you still know them now? 
Submitted by KIM. 

This is sad, to me, my first boyfriend was John. We sat next to each other in math class in the 7th grade, & we decided we really liked each other when he gave me a valentines present. My mom was sick, so I wasn't much of a girlfriend, but he was so nice to me, and so cute!. Between 7th and 8th grade, John was killed in a boating accident. They had a memorial for him in the 8th grade yearbook. It took me a while to get over that! Then I dated a guy in 10th grade, things didn't work out with us, & he ended up going out with my best friend. Then, when we were in 11th grade, he died of cancer at age 19! I didn' t have a real boyfriend until 6 months after that.

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Do you have a pet? What kind of pet do you own, and why did you choose it? 
Submitted by Brendz.  

That's weird because I was just wondering what to do about my new pet guinea pig. I like him fine, he does some very cute things, but some annoying ones. Like for instance I have to clean out his cage every other day. The water bottle always leaks. I think he makes me sneeze. I picked him, probably because I had one as a kid, but that one didn't bite. Other than that I have two very fun low maintenance black cats. I chose them randomly because they were strays that somebody didn't want (ironic isn't it). But mostly the black cats appeal to my dark side.

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Maddy grad spppoookkky stair 001

My friend K asked me to come along to look at this house he was thinking of buying. He said, "There's been a fire in the kitchen in the back of the house. But the rest of the place is okay, just maybe some smoke damage." I said I'd go with him and make an assessment. The place was completely black and all the windows had been boarded up, there was no power. I took one look at the place, and said, it was a disaster, but K went ahead to check out the basement. I stayed at the front door, in front of these steps. And while I was waiting, I felt this odd compulsion to ascend the stairs . . . I didn't have a flashlight. I just felt drawn to walk up, and my eyes had adjusted to the dim light. So I climbed up the stairs, and as I reached the top landing, I felt a cold breeze and all the hair stood up on the back of my neck and my arms. I could see into a bedroom, everything was covered in a black layer of soot. I shot back down the stairs and waited. When we left, I told K about my experience, and of course, he thought it was a little silly. I said, this was no small fire. I thought someone must have died there, with the way everything was just left. Within 2 hours he got a phone call, from the sellers. They had failed to disclose an important piece of information. A woman had died on the second floor, in her bedroom. We didn't buy the house.

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 It's very disturbing about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I went to yoga early this morning and the instructor asked us all afterwards if we were doing okay, she's such a sweetie, and I almost wanted to cry. That this could happen HERE of all places, I always thought of Minnesota as this really safe and secure place to live. I feel like we've all been let down. And I am renewed that I am going to keep open to whatever I can do to help, to help the victims and to help for future repairs of bridges because I heard that there are a lot of bridges that are in disrepair. I think it's a travesty that all this money is going over to IRAQ to rebuild their nation, while those ingrateful people shoot at our soldiers, and yet, in our own home there are still these problems like unsafe bridges, and look at New Orleans! Get real, people. This is awful. This is revolting.

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