There’s an article in the Minnesota Reformer claiming we need a full time legislature. As I read through it the other day, I couldn’t find a clear explanation of how going from part time to full time would improve the quality of laws or related decisions. Meanwhile, the Kansas Supreme Court has found the "state constitution does not provide the right to vote.” Finallly, although I wasn’t there at the time, I don’t recall reading that the framers of the US Constitution were under time pressures when they decided the qualifications to be president to be limited to the following:
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
I believe the requirements to purchase and/or carry a firearm are considerably more stringent. Look at the situation we’re currently facing: a convicted felon, on 34 counts, is the presumptive candidate for president, expected to represent one of our two major political parties. Felons aren’t allowed to vote, why should one be allowed to serve the highest office? Don’t we think more of our democracy, and ourselves, than that.
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| Hieracium aurantiacum (Orange Hawkweed) invasive species
Photo by J. Harrington
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At the state level, I’ve been looking at Minnesota’s laws defining invasive species. Although I am not a lawyer, they seem vague enough to be found unconstitutional, See what you think:
- 2023 Minnesota Statutes
- AGRICULTURE
- Chapter 18
- Section 18.77
Subd. 17. Invasive plant.
"Invasive plant" means a nonnative species whose introduction and establishment causes, or may cause, economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.
- 2023 Minnesota Statutes
- CONSERVATION
- Chapter 84D
- Section 84D.01
Subd. 9a. Invasive species.
"Invasive species" means a nonnative species that:
(1) causes or may cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health; or
(2) threatens or may threaten natural resources or the use of natural resources in the state.
So far, I’ve not been able to find any description of a process or criteria to be followed in reaching a determination of the quantity and/or quality of “harm” that needs to be caused to the economy, human health or natural resources in the state for a terrestrial or aquatic species to be listed.
The last time I checked, most educated, thinking people were familiar with and generally agreed with the theory of evolution. That means ecosystems and their elements change over time. Then there’s the problem of human caused environmental pollution that’s causing massive amounts of economic and environmental and human health harm. I’m not holding my breath until the commissioner of agriculture or natural resources declares humans an invasive species but, if we look back far enough, I don’t think we fit the definition of native for this continent.
Don’t we need better laws to have better enforcement and attain the results we’d like? Do we really want to see a convicted felon in our highest office? Should our definitions of invasive species, and how they're applied, be more specific? How do we start to make that happen? We need to begin with better quality candidates and better defined issues!
Tomorrow I’ll share some questions I hope could help get a better handle on invasive species. Maybe we can work up to qualifications for president.
anti-immigration
the black people left, and took with them their furioushurricanes and their fire-breathing rap songs meltingthe polar ice caps. they left behind the mining jobs,but took that nasty black lung disease and the insuranceregulations that loop around everything concerninghealth and care, giant holes of text that all the coveragefalls through. the brown people left, and took withthem the pesticides collecting like a sheen on the skinsof fruit. they went packing, and packed off with themwent all the miserable low-paying gigs, the pre-dawncommutes, the children with expensive special needsand the hard-up public schools that tried to meet them.the brown people left, railroaded into carting off thosetests that keep your average bright young student outsidethe leagues of ivy-lined classrooms, and also hauled offtheir concentrated campuses, their great expectations, theirinvasive technology, and the outrageous pay gap betweena company’s c.e.o. and its not-quite-full-time workers. theytook their fragile endangered pandas and species extinctionand got the hell outta dodge. the black people left and tookhiv/aids, the rest of their plagues, and all that deviantsexuality with them. they took their beat-down matriarchiesand endless teen pregnancies, too. those monster-sizedextended families, the brown people took those. the brownpeople boxed up their turbans and suspicious sheet-likecoverings, their terrifying gun violence, cluster bombs,and drones, and took the whole bloody mess with them,they took war and religious brow-beating tucked undertheir robes. they took theocracy and their cruel, unusualpunishments right back where they came from. finally,the white people left, as serenely unburdened as whenthey arrived, sailing off from plymouth rock with nothingin their hands but a recipe for cranberry sauce, a bitof corn seed, and the dream of a better life. there wereonly certain kinds of people here, after the exodus, leftto wander the underdeveloped wilderness in searchof buffalo, tobacco, and potable water, following oldmigratory patterns that would have been better left alone.
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