June 2007 – Page 17 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Honk if You Like Gas Lines

Apparently State Representative Tim Solobay (D-Washington County), who either is, at best, looking to score cheap political points off people’s ignorance, or, at worst, has never taken a basic economics course, wants to set up a board for regulating the price of gasoline, just like the one that ensures residents of the Keystone State pay too much for milk.

Dairy farmers are a powerful interest group in the commonwealth, and the state sets minimum prices for milk.Â Presumably the gas board would set maximum prices for gas. Â Maximum gas prices create shortages, since it will force gas out of the state, where refiners will be able to sell it at a higher profit.

If Representative Solobay manages to bring gas lines to the Keystone State, I’ll be saying a hearty goodbye and screw you, and will move to Arizona.Â Seriously, the Democrats here are really starting to scare me.

Gun Show Disappointment

Bitter and I attended a gun show yesterday at the Philadelphia National Guard Armory off Southampton road in the northeast part of the city.Â Only a 400 table show, so I wasn’t expecting much, but I didn’t really find anything that caught my eye.

The only prize for the day, and since it’s been a while since I’ve been to a gun show, perhaps this isn’t much of a find, one table had Polish made Kalashnikov magazines that were pristine and unissued.Â I have several magazines for both AKs, but these don’t even have so much as a ding on them.Â I also picked up some targets and some jerky, but other than that, nothing really to catch my fancy.Â No good deals on ammo either.

Bitter, who is always on the look out for bad PR, found some at the show, and I think intends to blog about it later.Â I don’t quite have the eye she does, so I didn’t notice.Â I’ll let her tell the story, but say that I do think we need to be cognizant of the fact that the media loves to show up at gun shows to report on how crazy people are at gun shows, but I also think when they are out to get you, they will always find stuff.

Next weekend is one of the big shows in Harrisburg.Â Hopefully I can find some decent ammo deals there.

Nanny State

Dr. Helen mentions a book that looks like it’s worth a read. Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Children.

In so many ways, the state has become the babysitter and infantilizer of all of us, even adults and the most depressing part to me is that we are allowing it, bit by bit, every time we give the state more and more authority in the form of petty laws that control the lives of countless citizens in ways that take away personal autonomy while at the same time, doing little to prevent or severely punish those who are truly violent.

I’ve often wondered why we tolerate so much intrusion into the country’s daily life from the political class. Â I’m not a “golden age” libertarian, that is one who believes we’re fallen from some imagined time when government stayed out of people’s lives, and we had more freedom, but I do think there are two main factors at work today that contribute the country having such distasteful political leadership.

The elevation of democracy above liberty as an ideal of government.
Less involvement in political parties by people with healthy motivations.

It’s been said that Democracy is three wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for lunch.Â Somewhere along the line we’ve gone from believing that the purpose of government is to protect liberty, to the purpose of government is to do the will of the people.Â In the past, this type of government wasn’t possible, because it was hard to gauge public opinion.Â Now with polls, and various other mechanisms, politicians see “Most people favor bans on smoking in restaurants.” and exploit that for political gain.Â I don’t think people have ever been particularly committed to liberty, but polling lets the politicians know exactly what they can get away with.

The second factor is obvious any time you step into the voting booth on a general election day.Â Since I first voted for George H.W. Bush over Bill Clinton in the 1992 election (my first election where I was over 18), I have never once pulled the lever for someone I really felt I was excited about and that I felt represented me.Â Why?Â I think because most people who want smaller government and more autonomy don’t really have the time to participate in politics on the party level, or vote in primaries.Â A very small percentage of people are deciding who we get to vote for.Â There’s no doubt many of them are activists who want to get something out of government.Â Â Interest group politics are as old as the Republic, but I wonder today who the are the constituency that stands for liberty?Â Â Sure, there are groups, think tanks, and what have you, but that doesn’t seem to be translating into leadership that can carry that banner.

They Can Have My AK-47 License Fees…

… when they pry it from my cold dead hands:

Russia says it suffers major losses from the counterfeit manufacture of Kalashnikov assault rifles in Bulgaria. The armies of 47 countries use the AK-47 assault rifle, known as the Kalashnikov after its designer, Mikhail Kalashnikov.

About 100 million AK-47s and modified versions are believed to circulate around the world, but many of them are produced illegally.

Bulgaria’s Arsenal, whose license to produce Kalashnikov rifles expired a long time ago, displayed a wide range of counterfeit rifles at the DSA 2006 arms show in Malaysia.

Ivanov said earlier that the annual sales of unlicensed small arms on the international market totaled about $2 billion, with counterfeit Kalashnikov assault rifles accounting for 80-90% of the volume.

They are demanding a halt to all “illegal” AK-47 manufacturing. I suspect this won’t have much impact. I think the Russians are just enjoying being uppity these days. The article concludes we haven’t signed any intellectual property agreements with Russia.

via Slashdot

Harsh Words From the Times

The New York Times’ article “The Next Big Thing in Law? The Harsh Jurisprudence of Justice Thomas.” is a fine example of why I tend to be conservative when it comes to law. This article evinces a longstanding problem I have with the left’s view of the courts; as a mechanism for implementing their sense of social justice, rather than deciding what is the law.

The article is also not even attempt to seriously look at and criticize Justice Thomas’ jurisprudence. Â It’s a juvenile screed of a quality I’d expect of a college newspaper, not the New York Times.

Another Reason to Like Fred

His taste in women. His wife is smoking hot for a woman in her 40s. From this WaPo article:

Actor and former senator Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) escorts his wife, Jeri, at a GOP fundraiser in Richmond. Several hundred attended the event, scheduled before Thompson’s moves toward a presidential candidacy. (Photos By Steve Helber — Associated Press)

I’m Still in Shock

For the New York Times, this is a really fantastic article. It includes a quote from Michael Bane. Seriously, I’ve not seen an article this good from an outlet like the New York Times, quite possibly, as long as I can remember and have followed the issue. They get a few very minor things wrong, but overall, it’s very factual. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that it’s coming out of the business section.

German Police Funtime

I’ve never really felt a desire to be a German cop until now:

I had no current plans to go back and visit Germany any time soon, but if they added a tour where I could beat up rock throwing hippies, I’d be all for it. Notice the rock falling from his hands.

We don’t condone police brutality here at Snowflakes in Hell, but you have to admit, there just something about this crowd of freaks that makes you want to strap on riot gear and start swinging!

Photos from the BBC.Â Article here.

Hypocrite?

It kind of amazes me the number of people in the anti-gun movement that get charged with firearms crimes.Â You’d kind of expect it to happen to us more often, but I think most of us know the law and try to stay out of trouble.Â Â Dave Hardy links to the latest case of gun-control activists getting charged with gun crimes.

The founder of an anti-gang organization known as No Guns, once funded by the city of Los Angeles, was arrested Thursday and charged with selling firearms to federal undercover officers.

Hector “Big Weasel” Marroquin, 51, was arrested at his home in the 8000 block of 6th Street in Downey, said Susan Raichel, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

He was charged with the sale of an assault rifle, a machine gun, two pistols and two silencers, Raichel said.

So you kind ofÂ wonder ifÂ this guy favors gun control just like any other business owner favors laws that help his business.Â If you’re an illegal arms dealer, you have to love the idea of the government sending more business your way.Â Â Getting 1.5 million from the City of Los Angeles to hand out to your relatives doesn’t hurt either.

I’m not prepared to shout hypocrite.Â It seems to be “Big Weasel” is just a very smart black marketeer. Â Certainly smarter than the idiots who apparently run Los Angeles.

Supreme Court Picks

John Lott links to an article by Jan Crawford Greenberg:

Leading Senate Democrats are already warning against solidly conservative nominees, and that could make confirmation difficult in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Still, some of Bush’s political advisers believe he would be better off tapping a strong conservative who would rally the base — especially a nominee with a compelling life story who would be difficult for moderate Senate Democrats to oppose.

In that camp are federal appeals court Judges Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. Both were filibustered by Senate Democrats after Bush nominated them as appellate judges and were eventually confirmed after Senate leaders struck a compromise on judicial nominations.

It would agree the wise political move for Bush would be to nominate a solidly conservative candidate that the Democrats would have no real grounds to say no to, and make them say no to her. Â That’s great fodder for 2008, and will get the base rallied.Â It would be a welcome departure from Bush’s tone deaf actions as of late, especially on immigration. Â Hell, I’m generally pro-immigration, and even I think his immigration plan is a steaming pile of manure.

Beating your base up is a sure way to make Republicans stay home in 2008, and that will give us President Hillary or President Obama. Â Neither of those two choices are palatable to me.Â If Bush keeps acting like a bozo with no political sense, I’m going to register Democrat and vote for Bill Richardson, just so I can contribute to minimizing the damage.