… that Pizza Hut does not allow its drivers to protect their own lives. One thing I’ve never been able to understand is why anyone would put their own safety as risk for a minimum wage job.
Year: 2010
Kos Supporting Gun Rights
I’m not really all that surprised by the Daily Kos embracing gun rights. Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga has been an advocate for the Democrats to dump the gun control crap for a long time. Take a page from the 2006 book he co-authored “Crashing the Gate:”
The Second Amendment pro-gun crowd, an offshoot of the libertarian faction, is one of the few single-issue constituency groups inside the Republican Party, and the National Rifle Association is perhaps the most poerful issue group in the country. There was a time when the Republican Party was their home, as the Democrats worked hard to enact gun-control legislation. But that battle is over, and except for skirmishes in urban jurisdictions, gun control is essentially dead inside the Democratic Party and certainly dead at the federal level.
I’ve never been convinced Markos was a true believer, at least in the sense we are, but he knows what’s winning and losing politics, and he’s never been easy on the Democrats for clinging bitterly to gun control.
GOP Losing Steam On Judges?
I think this is very true, and if folks want to understand why NRA is reluctant to insert itself into nomination battles, this is a must read:
Sessions said the real reason for the breezy confirmation process boils down to this: “Republicans have always given more deference to a president†— a contention Democrats reject.
Yes, and that’s why this is a difficult fight with a Democratic Senate. Republicans are more interested in fair play in this process rather than standing up for what they believe in. I am not of the opinion that the Senate’s job is to examine qualifications and rubber stamp whatever the President sends down the pike. The Senates job is also to evaluate the judicial temperament of the nominee. I think we can all agree that believing the Declaration of Independence is a pretty basic starting judicial philosophy.
Kim Du Toit popularized the terms “Stupid Party” and “Evil Party” on the gun blogosphere years ago to serve in the stead of Republicans and Democrats respectively. It’s very true. It’s high time the GOP lost this attitude:
Republicans “have a respect for the proper balance between the executive and legislative branch — and appreciate the president is going to nominate [judges] more closely aligned with his political philosophy. … [They understand] that elections have consequences and if you’re in the minority, you shouldn’t try to upset that by filibustering nominees,†Kyl said. “We also thought that was not right, and I still believe it’s not right.â€
Pardon the language, but fuck that. If you’re in the situation the GOP is in, you use every tool on the tool belt to flight a delaying action until the calvary (hopefully the voters in November 2010) arrive with reinforcements. There are worse things than a vacancy on the Court. How about making the Democrats consider the “nuclear option” for once?
I suspect a lot of hate surrounding NRA over Kagan is rooted in the fact that people have no faith that the GOP will get dirty an actually stand up to Obama’s agenda. They want NRA to act like they have a pair, in stark contrast to the GOP.
They Really Won, You See
Bryan Miller is usually, if nothing, willing to speak his mind, but even he’s still pretending like McDonald is without any actual meaning:
At the same time, Bryan Miller, executive director of Cease Fire NJ, said there was nothing in the ruling that made him believe the state’s gun laws were in for a substantial revision.
“There is nothing in New Jersey law that denies anyone, a legal purchaser, to buy a gun in the state,†he said.
The state does not ban handguns, he said, and the assault weapons ban is limited.
“I’ll say this: I think the decision will give temporary comfort to the pro-gun lobby,†Miller said, “but that will only be temporary, because once they spend all that money to overturn New Jersey’s gun laws, they will have failed.â€
So Bryan Miller, who’s beloved CeaseFire New Jersey was recently absorbed by a peacenik group, is believing that we’ll eventually fail and run out of money… you know… just like he did. Can you spell “p-r-o-j-e-c-t-i-o-n?” I knew you could.
Blunderbuss
A fellow blogger is looking for some help identifying the vintage of a family heirloom. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, except by saying that the flintlock mechanism would seem to plant it in the 18th or early 19th century. A lot of blunderbusses had brass barrels, and this one looks like steel. My understanding is that blunderbusses were not common arms, among regular folk, so I would imagine this might be worth a pretty penny. But I really know little about them. Can anyone offer some advice?
The Swiss Know How to Hold a Match
The scale of the annual Swiss Shooting Festival, basically the Swiss equivalent of our National Matches, is utterly astounding.
Catching Up
Since, like many of you, I’m off work today for the holiday, I’m catching up on some household stuff. Swapped out the light fixture in my office, and replaced it with one that could take CFL style bulbs. My old one took halogen spots, which I believe get a life extension until 2014, when you’ll have to replace them with LED lighting, but that is still tempting me to send the bill for the swap to Nancy Pelosi.
Either way, the reason I replaced is that the halogens throw off a lot of heat, and when the temperature is topping 100 degrees outside, and you don’t have central air, 150 watts is a tall order. Even if the room isn’t cooler, it feels cooler, and if it makes my room AC unit upstairs work that much less, it’s worth it.
I also had to get some files off Bitter’s old, dead Dell laptop, which I’ve been promising to do and not doing for a few months now. Since I got a new MacBook Pro from work a year or so ago I gave her my old one.
Now I need to go spray some RoundUp on grass I have growing in my side yard. It looks like I’ve planted wheat. I never go back there. More blogging later.
Grip Panels for a 22/45
I noticed this very nice customization of a Ruger Mk.III 22/45 over at Tam‘s. I shoot Silhouette with my 22/45, and like everything about it except the grip. The angle isn’t the problem so much as my hands are too big for the puny grip. I beefed it up a bit with a houge rubber sleeve, but that doesn’t work as nicely. I like the idea of being able to put real wood grips on it.
Waste of Taxpayer Dollars
Capitol Ideas is reporting on items in the state budget, namely about 30 million dollars of state funds going to create libraries for Arlen Specter, and a Center for Public Policy named after John Murtha. Yeah, maybe I’m crazy, but I tend to think education and parks ought to be a higher spending priority than Specter and Murtha’s legacy. Though, given what porkers they both were, perhaps this is fitting.
Castle Doctrine Dead
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is noting H.B. 40’s lack of movement. It still has to get through the appropriations committee before hitting the House Floor, where it clearly has enough votes to pass. The head of appropriations is Dwight Evans. Given that I’d say it’s probably safe to say it’s not getting a floor vote. This is one area I’ll be partisan with. We have to kick the Democrats out in November if we want to move any pro-gun bills through the Pennsylvania legislature. The cost of Castle Doctrine seems to have been all those anti-gun bills, but also the Lentz bill, which seems to be a high price for a bill that isn’t going to clear appropriations, in all likelihood.