MPR reports that the current host of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura said he plans to refer to the United States as the “Fascist States of America.”

“The only way that I could change it I guess would be to run for president and win it,” Ventura said. “Is that what it will take?” When asked if he’s running for the White House, Ventura said “I’m thinking about it. That’s all though.”

Ventura has suggested before that he might have an interest in again running for higher office. In April, Ventura told Good Morning America that he’d consider running as Rep. Ron Paul’s vice president if he ran for an independent party.

Ventura also said that he and his wife plan to pursue their Mexican citizenship, according to Politics in Minnesota.

Ventura has dabbled in the 9/11 truther movement and other conspiracy theories, partly for his television show, since leaving office. The camera crew was present at today’s press conference, according to media reports.

A slate of 35 DFLers introduced legislation on Monday that would allow state employment contracts to include benefits for same-sex domestic partners. The bill aims to restore benefits that were offered during the administration of Gov. Jesse Ventura but repealed under pressure from Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republican legislators in 2003.

HF1438 states, “If a collective bargaining agreement or plan provides state paid health insurance for spouses of employees, the insurance must be made available to domestic partners of state employees on the same terms and conditions.”

The bill also defines the term domestic partners as a same-sex couple as two adults who “(1) are responsible for each other’s basic common welfare; (2) share a common residence and intend to do so indefinitely; (3) are not related by blood or adoption to an extent that would prohibit marriage in this state; and (4) are legally competent and qualified to enter into a contract.”

In 2000, then-Gov. Jesse Ventura included domestic partner benefits for the following biennium.

In 2003, a Republican-led House refused to ratify a labor contract that contained the benefits, and 85 families lost their health and life insurance benefits.

For the past few years, DFLers have attempted to have those benefits reinstated, with limited success. They’ve been passed by the Legislature but stripped from budget bills in order to appease former Gov. Pawlenty.

Though polls show that Minnesotans do not support same-sex marriage, a large majority — even among Republicans — support the state offering some kind of benefits for same-sex couples.

According to an MPR poll from last fall, “The majority, 64% (including 56% of Emmer supporters, 55% of Republicans, and 56% of independents) favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into legal agreements with each other that would give them many of the same rights as married couples.”

A KSTP poll in 2009 found exactly the same level of support for limited relationship rights for same-sex couples.

The bill was introduced by Reps. Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis, Mindy Greiling of Roseville, Ryan Winkler of St. Louis Park, Karen Clark of Minneapolis, Jim Davnie of Minneapolis, Lyndon Carlson Sr. of Crystal, Paul Thissen of Minneapolis, Debra Hilstrom of Brooklyn Center; Marion Greene of Minneapolis, Steve Simon of St. Louis Park, Thomas Huntley of Duluth, Alice Hausman of St. Paul, Carlos Mariani of St. Paul, Sheldon Johnson of St Paul, Kerry Gauthier of St. Paul, Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis; Kate Knuth of New Brighton, Bill Hilty of Finlayson, Tom Anzelc of Balsam Township, Erin Murphy of St. Paul, Rena Moran of St. Paul, Leon Lillie of North St. Paul, Jean Wagenius of Minneapolis, Bobby Jo Champion of Minneapolis, Linda Slocum of Richfield, John Benson of Minnetonka, Carly Melin of Hibbing, Tom Tillberry of Fridley, Rick Hansen of South St. Paul, Jeff Hayden of Minneapolis, Diane Loeffler of Minneapolis; Sandra Peterson of New Hope, Tina Liebling of Rochester, Tom Rukavina of Virginia and Michael Paymar of St. Paul.

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura told the Pioneer Press Friday that he backs Independence Party candidate Tom Horner for governor. Horner has secured the endorsements of three of the five living governors, including former Republicans Arne Carlson and Al Quie. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is backing Republican Tom Emmer, while former DFL governor Wendell Anderson hasn’t yet announced his support for a candidate. Ventura was the first and only Independence Party candidate to win the governor’s election.

“I urge people — if they truly want change, it’s in their power — shock the world again. Vote Tom Horner in as governor,” Ventura told the Pioneer Press.

“That will have a much bigger effect than electing a Democrat or Republican. If you elect a Democrat or Republican, you’re just going along with the status quo, business as usual,” Ventura said.

According to the St. Paul paper, the Horner campaign didn’t know the endorsement was coming.

Paul supporters have delved pretty deeply into United Nations, Federal Reserve and other boringly nerdy economic conspiracies, but Ventura could help focus Paulites on a different strain of conspiracies: 9/11 trutherism, secret societies and, yes, a real-life Manchurian Candidate (mind control that turns “ordinary citizens into programmed assassins,” according to the show’s website).

In the online poll, which has more than 600 votes despite being posted only last night, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann drew only five percent of the vote, despite her weekly studies with Dr. Paul.

Ventura does trail Peter Schiff and Andrew Napolitano in the poll.  But in a similar April poll, Ventura came in second. Who knows? There could be some shadowy forces that are rightfully afraid of Ventura topping out an online poll? Just saying.

Gov. Pawlenty at the National Day of Prayer event in 2008. Photo: Governor's Office

Despite a ruling last week by a federal judge in Wisconsin striking down the National Day of Prayer as unconstitutional, Minnesota’s commemoration of the annual event — almost exclusively an evangelical affair — will go on this year. It remains to be seen whether Gov. Tim Pawlenty will again sign a proclamation for the day in Minnesota.

On Thursday U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer, enacted by Congress in 1952 at the urging of evangelist Billy Graham and strengthened by President Reagan in 1988, violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

The day “serves no purpose but to encourage a religious exercise, making it difficult for a reasonable observer to see the statute as anything other than a religious endorsement,” Crabb wrote. She added that prayer is a very important part of people’s lives but that “recognizing the importance of prayer to many people does not mean that the government may enact a statute in support of it, any more than the government may encourage citizens to fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge or practice rune magic.”

Most Minnesota governors have endorsed the day each year with a proclamation — with the exception of Gov. Jesse Ventura, who refused to sign one. “I believe in the separation of church and state,” he said at the time. “We all have our own religious beliefs. There are people out there who are atheists, who don’t believe at all… They are all citizens of Minnesota and I have to respect that.”

But Pawlenty, an evangelical Christian, has been loyal to the exclusively evangelical event, and has appeared at several day of prayer events during his term in office, as has Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, also an evangelical.

Pawlenty’s office did not return a request for comment on how the court ruling might affect his support for this year’s event.

In recent years, only evangelicals were invited to speak at the event, which is part of Shirley Dobson’s — and Focus on the Family’s — plan for the nationwide events. In fact, Sharon Auldrich, Minnesota coordinator for the National Day of Prayer, was hand-picked by Dobson.

Auldrich said that this year’s event at the Capitol on May 6 will only be “strengthened” by the court decision.

“This ruling will continue the process of refining and drawing out those who believe faith in God is vital and will encourage them to stand strong on Biblical principals,” she said. “We are commanded to pray for our country and those in authority.”

She added, “God uses for good what the enemy has planned to use to destroy.”

She said the court decision will be test for Christians, including President Obama. “What this does is draw a line in the sand, and those who say they believe in God and say they have biblical values will have to step forward and prove it,” said Auldrich. “The request for President Obama to appeal [the decision] is going to be a very interesting test for him.”

In the past, the line-up of speakers for the event at the Capitol has been exclusively evangelical. In 2008, for instance, all eleven speakers were evangelical Christians — hardly representative of a state where one in 5 residents is evangelical Christian.

This year’s event will take an even different flavor when the National Day of Prayer observance at the Capitol teams up with the Minnesota Family Council for a prayer in the Capitol Rotunda following the event on the Capitol lawn. MFC bills its rally against rights for same-sex couples as “a call for believers throughout the state to join together in a united voice against the assault on God’s design for marriage.”

The set-up for Ventura’s segment: Using a WorldNet Daily story, host Eric Bolling pushed the story that the health care law  includes a provision to create a “ready reserve corps” for use during national emergencies and that “other reports” say the Obama Administration will hire 16,000 new armed IRS agents. The law does refer to a “ready reserve,” but as Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey points out, Obama didn’t invent it: it’s more than 60 years old. Further, as Fox Business notes, the White House has stated that “this is a thoroughly debunked charge that has absolutely no basis in reality.” Writes Morrissey, “This bill has a multitude of problems, but a ‘private health-care army’ isn’t one of them.”

But Ventura, brought in for his opinions on whether there’s a “cover-up of the truth going on,” didn’t respond to that windup — or the subject when Bolling resurrected it by the end of the interview. Instead, he discussed his “terrible” health care through the Screen Actors Guild, acknowledging that perhaps the new health care law could help him.

“Shouldn’t we really spend more money on nuclear bombs instead of health care? And I’m being really sarcastic when I say that,” he said. “It seems the argument we’re hearing is: let’s build more nuclear bombs, but we can’t afford health care. I think I’d rather have health care. How many times do we need to blow up the world? How much power do we need from nuclear bombs?”

When Bolling suggested overall lower government spending, Ventura acknowledged “that would be good,” but added:

How about a tax on the war? We haven’t even paid for that. We’re making these kids go over there and die, we’re making them fight this eight- to ten-year war, and then when they come home, you know what we get to do for them? We get to make them pay for it. We don’t even have the courage to pay for our own wars.

Bolling quickly changed subjects to President Barack Obama’s change in “posture” regarding nuclear warfare. Ventura backs Obama’s move, stating that “I don’t think there’s any use for nuclear weapons on the planet.”

Rather than use nukes in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran, Ventura says he’d “rather pull them [troops] all out. We shouldn’t have gone over in the first place. The Iraq War was based completely on lies… The point I”m making is: why do we have to spend so much on defense? …I’ll tell you why: Because we have been practicing terrorism for 50 years, only we call it ‘foreign policy.’”

Pressing Ventura, Bolling began to ask if an attack on American soil would warrant a nuclear response. Ventura wouldn’t respond, calling the scenario “hypothetical.” To Bolling’s claim that Ventura had earlier provided a “speculative” situation, Ventura replied: “I’m giving you a veteran who’s been there, not a coward who hasn’t been.”

(Hat tip, Mediaite.)

In Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai’s brother is getting CIA payments while also being involved in the heroin trade, Ventura writes. And while Obama has said the drug problem needs to be looked at from a public health perspective, his “drug war” budget directs twice as much money to the criminal justice system than to treatment and prevention, he writes. He then criticizes Obama for nominating Michele Leonhart, a Bush-era appointee, as DEA director.

“She has a history of cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries, and most recently denying the research application of a University of Massachusetts botanist, he writes. “This is a ludicrous appointment, since Attorney General Eric Holder has already ordered federal agents not to go after medical marijuana outlets. So is the administration talking out of both sides of its mouth?”

Ventura concludes with an excerpt from his book, which comes out March 8. In part, it reads:

…One hundred million Americans have sampled marijuana, and that includes almost half of all the seniors in high school. More than 35 million Americans have tried cocaine at some point, and almost as many have taken LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs. Meantime, we’ve got “grows” or “gardens” of pot springing up all across our western states on public lands–and that includes almost40 percent of national forests. About 3.1 million marijuana plants were confiscated in national forests over a one-year period, September 2007 to September 2008, carrying a street value calculated at $12.4 billion.

I mean, how stupid are we? Go back to Chicago and Prohibition, when Al Capone became more powerful than the government because we’d outlawed the selling of liquor. Legalize marijuana, and you put the cartels out of business! [...]

“I consider myself a political revolutionary, and therefore, I am one of you! I created the Independence Party in MN, and I have a plan,” Barkley wrote. “If enough tea partiers join the Independence Party, it becomes you! Think of it. YOU run the Independence Party, not the other way around! With all of the legal and political infrastructure elements it has. This will save lots of time and trouble.”

In a shift from the party’s more progressive background, the Independence Party has already garnered the support of a number of former Republicans running for governor, including Tom Horner and, until recently, Col. Joe Repya.

Barkley was a founder of the Reform Party, which later became the Independence Party. He was appointed by Ventura to fill the seat of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone in 2002.

Here’s Barkley’s full statement:

Dear Fellow Patriots!

Do you want the conservative movement to create real change? Then it must take the next step. Only by electing decent people who believe as you do, can our nation transform itself.

Hello, my name is Dean Barkley. I have spent the last twenty years trying to change the ways things are done by our corrupt two party system. I began by forming the Reform Party in Minnesota. Later, we changed the name to the Independence Party, ran candidates, and eventually elected Jesse Ventura as the most widely known governor in America. Like you, the traditional political parties hated us. I just ran for the US Senate, and received 15% of the vote – with no money! The point it: change can happen!

People nationwide understand how bankrupt the two party system is (and has bankrupted America, too!). To be effective, this movement must transform into being a real political force and fast. To do so, it must create the legal, financial, and staffing infrastructure that a real political party has. The Republican Party is trying to lure some of you into its folds with pretty promises. But don’t be fooled. They just want your time, money, and votes. And they will continue business as usual – and run things their way!

I consider myself a political revolutionary, and therefore, I am one of you! I created the Independence Party in MN, and I have a plan. If enough tea partiers join the Independence Party, it becomes you! Think of it. YOU run the Independence Party, not the other way around! With all of the legal and political infrastructure elements it has. This will save lots of time and trouble. The scattered tea party people become The Tea Party – in name as well as fact. A real party – that can change things. You can do this in two weeks. Register online at MNIP.org. If three hundred do, and become delegates, they will own the Independence Party. They can change its name to Tea Party – and inherit all the party structure you need! Register to be a delegate. You can do it online. But hurry, the online caucus closes on 2/28/2010.

Let’s get back to the future and back to the United States Constitution, limited government, and the fiscal common sense of living within our means.

Sincerely,

Dean Barkley

Horner, a public-relations executive with long experience in Republican politics, tells the Minnesota Independent he’s parting ways with the GOP on good terms.

“I’m not leaving the Republican Party in protest or under a cloud,” Horner says, citing his membership in the party’s “more moderate” wing since he began work for U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger in the 1970s.

But gridlock has soured Horner on two-party politics in St. Paul. “Whichever party has the governor’s office, the other party isn’t going to let that governor succeed,” he says.

Ventura got around that by seeking good ideas and good people from across the political spectrum, Horner says, for a “pretty successful” first half of his term. Only when Ventura become disengaged partway through his term did the legislature ditch him.

That’s where Horner reckons he has something on Ventura: his 30 years of experience in public policy and party politics, along with an inclination to stay engaged with citizens.

As for his campaign, he says it will start low-key and won’t feature a pox-from-both-their-houses critique of the two other major parties, as is sometimes heard from IP candidates. Minnesotans who know him from his political commentary on Minnesota Public Radio wouldn’t buy it, he says.

“For me to come out and say all parties are bad would be ludicrous,” says Horner.

Growing field, coming battle

With the entrance of Horner and former Republican party activist Joe Repya this week, the Independence Party’s field of gubernatorial candidates grew to five, and Tim Penny figures it may keep growing. Penny, the party’s 2002 endorsee for governor, says at least two others are still in the wings.

“It may be that for the first time we have a real endorsement battle,” said Penny, who as a Democrat served six years in the state Senate and six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. ”There are more people of my stature that are beginning to conclude that the two parties have failed us.”

Those already vying to run as Independent Party candidate for governor include party chair Jack John Uldrich and lesser-known candidates Rob Hahn and Rahn Workcuff.

Horner had publicly floated the possibility of a run and party switch for weeks, while Repya had been talking behind the scenes about a possible IP run for months, said Penny.

But Penny said at least two other people (who he wouldn’t name) have talked to him about running for governor under the Independence Party banner.

Penny said he would probably endorse someone in the race before the party’s endorsing convention, which isn’t officially set yet but is likely to be May 8, according to an IP spokesperson. (The IP will hold an interactive online caucus throughout the month of February.)

Talking about Horner and Repya, Penny said, “I’m intrigued by a candidate with some roots in the Republican Party” — in part because he and Peter Hutchinson, the IP’s 2006 endorsed candidate for governor, both came from Democratic Party backgrounds. Hutchinson drew only 6 percent of the vote, less than Penny’s

Ventura may round out the list by at number 10, but his is one of only two quotes that Yale librarian and editor Fred R. Shapiro picked from the first half of the year. And Ventura demonstrated his ticket on the vanguard of the zeitgeist is still good. His somewhat dated reference to the Sharon Tate murders, which likely meant little to many who heard it, was made more current by the recent arrest of film director Roman Polanksi (in Europe, on a separate conviction), who was Tate’s husband at the time of her death.

Then again, fans of Palin’s husband Todd resurrected the name of Tate’s true murderer at a “Sportsmen for Coleman: rally in Northern Minnesota during the 2008 presidential campaign.