Clayton’s new book “My Brother Ron.”
Month: July 2012
The Pennsylvania Problem in 2012
Stuart Rothenberg of Roll Call seems to think the Democrats need to look to states other than Pennsylvania if they want to pick up Congressional seats in 2012. They point out two competitive seats being Jim Gerlach and Mike Fitzpatrick. Both have been made safer with redistricting, but still do not have what anyone would consider “safe” seats. But Gerlach has won consistently in tough years. Fitzpatrick is probably the easier pickup, but I doubt Obama will have much in the way of coattails. Meehan’s seat is actually looking surprisingly safe.
Fast and Furious Back and Forth
We all remember the Fortune article suggesting the whole Fast and Furious scandal is a figment of everyone’s imagination. Grassley fired back at the article, and so Eban released another follow-up article, which National Review has found issues with.
Happy Independence Day
May you all celebrate our nation’s independence by blowing up a small chunk of it, that isn’t you. Of course some of us are considerably better equipped to celebrate in this manner than others.
Jumped the Shark?
Reading over a post of Caleb’s, I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest the whole girls with guns meme is precipitously close to, if not already jumping the shark. I say that not because I have a problem with women in the gun issue, quite the contrary. I think the shark jumping may be close or occurring because women in the gun issue is becoming more and more commonplace, and the schtick of using sex appeal to attract hoards of male readers has been wearing thin on me, and since someone else has written what I’ve been thinking for a while, perhaps others too. Most of the female gun bloggers I’ve kept reading over the years I’ve kept reading because I like their writing, and think they make useful contributions to the community.
Answering the Difficult Questions
Fundraising in 2012
At least once a day I’m getting fundraising e-mails from the Romney camp. They really want a donation so I can win a chance to spend a day on the Mitt Romney tour bus. What’s second prize? Two days on the Mitt Romney tour bus? How about if I win, you let me pick the next nominee to the Supreme Court. That would be a real prize.
Holding Them Accountable
I’ve decided that I’d like to engage with more anti-gun people online. However, I’m not going to try and argue with them on the issue of actual gun ownership. That’s largely a lost cause with someone who is passionate enough about it to get into debates online. What I’ve decided to target is anti-gunners who are so extreme in their hatred of civilian gun ownership that they want to silence all who oppose them. In other words, I’m making an effort to hold them accountable for the things they are actually demanding.
If you want to make America safe, get rid of the #NRA
— Julian Easterly (@betweenbreaths) July 2, 2012
My response? “I respect your dedication to free political speech by calling for people to get rid of political opposition.” Seriously, he doesn’t want to win the debate. He doesn’t want to win an election. He wants to “get rid” of NRA members. There are more than 4 million of us, so what are his exact methods for “get[ting] rid” of us? It’s a fair question to ask him since he’s making such an extreme statement about his political opponents.
You can also look to this tweet from a Labour MP who seems distressed about a feature of the UN Arms Trade Treaty discussions:
Just found out that the #NRA have same standing as NGOs like Oxfam & Amnesty, will get to speak in civilsociety plenary here #ArmsTreaty
— Kerry McCarthy MP (@KerryMP) July 2, 2012
I responded: “Is that a bad thing? Free speech should be welcome from all sides, at least I would hope it is welcome.” Is this a member of British government who is willing to say that those he disagrees with shouldn’t be recognized in a political debate? It seems like an awfully silly thing to get upset over even if he’s not an NRA supporter. He’s not challenging the arguments presented by NRA, but seemingly their mere existence as a recognized organization with a voice to represent their members.
Finally, there’s this example:
This is what should NOT be in politics. #Congress RT @PoliticalTicker:#NRA sends Democrats a message over Holder vote – wp.me/p4HKM-11ER
— L. Michelle (@thinkincolornow) July 2, 2012
If you click through to the article, it states that NRA said they will tell voters in the respective Congressional districts how their elected officials voted. It would seem that â€@thinkincolornow finds this to be something we should ban from politics, so I asked her for a little clarification. I posed a couple of questions: “What exactly should not be in politics? The right to petition government or right to speak to members of a political org?” She hasn’t been willing to respond at this point.
On the positive side of tracking the NRA hashtag, I did find this awesome post:
Yay now that I’m 18 I’m no longer a junior member!! #nrainstagr.am/p/Ml072WSU9X/
— Eryn Williamson (@williamsoneryn) July 2, 2012
I sent my congratulations to my fellow NRA member. We are winning. And we’re doing it without actually trying to restrict the free speech rights of our opponents.
California Gun Rights on the Line Today
After rendering California’s assault weapons ban into virtual meaninglessness with the bullet button, the Empire is striking back. Except, as expected with anti-gunners, this goes much much farther. If you want to see what SB 249 does in its entirety, visit stopsb249.org. I suspect, because the anti-gun folks think they can run whatever bill they want in California, and we’re powerless to stop them, that they’ll get back at us this way. It’s a petty move by angry people to try to seek revenge through the only legislature left in the country that will give them whatever they want.
Can Someone Tell me Why People Call David Frum a Conservative?
D.C. loses power for a few days, and this guy says the solution is for the .gov to borrow tons of money to bury power lines. I’ve about had my fill of conservatives like this. We have overhead power lines coming down our street. I’d really prefer my neighborhood and property not be dug up to bury them. Hell, I’d wager it would be cheaper to buy everyone on the block generators for emergencies than to bury the lines in the neighborhood.
h/t to Instapundit, who normally I agree with on most things, but I just can’t stomach borrowing money we don’t have to fund something like this, even if I have to agree that most of Obama’s stimulus might as well have been flushed down the toilet.