Sebastian – Page 789 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Hope and Change

Remember all those promises of transparent government? Take a look at this:

Executive Order â€” Amending Executive Order 12425, signed December 16 and released a day later, grants the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) rights on American soil that place it beyond the reach of our own law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Schippert and Middleton note that Obamaâ€™s order removes protections placed upon INTERPOL by President Reagan in 1983. Obamaâ€™s order gives the group the authority to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests â€” which means this foreign law enforcement organization can operate free of an important safeguard against governmental abuse.

It gets even better:

Khoo Boon Hui of Singapore is the current president of the organization, and the current secretary general is American Ronald Noble. Noble is perhaps best known in America for overseeing the Treasury Departmentâ€™s review of the disastrous 1993 raid and siege of a Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that left nearly 80 people dead. Noble had cautioned against the initial raid plan as being too dangerous, but the lack of any significant ramifications for federal officials that approved of the raid and allegations of a cover-up have inspiredÂ conspiracy theorists to derisively dub Noble â€œthe Enforcer.â€

This is going to make the blue helmeted conspiracy crowd go nuts. One of the things that’s always been amazing about the left is that they do such an effective job of making people’s paranoid delusions seem to not, in fact, be paranoid delusions.

This is Coming from India?

This is interesting, as it could have come from an NRA press release, rather than being published in an Indian paper:

Many may say,’What difference willÂ possessingÂ arms make?’. The right answer to this question could be perfectly answered by ones logical mind. On 26/11, even if 10% of the crowd at Taj Hotel beared arms, there wouldnt have been a human slaughter! The simple reason being atleast 50% of the 10% arms owner would have had the guts to shoot-down the terrorist. It has been one complete year for 26/11 event and still our Indian Government are busy requestingÂ quotationsÂ from foreign arms manufacturers .

All is not lost on the International Front just yet, even if it’s largely lost in Europe.

Hat Tip to MikeB

PA State Police and Castle Doctrine

The Bucks County Intelligencer does an article on H.B.40, the “Castle Doctrine” bill in Pennsylvania, which contains some law enforcement opposition to the bill:

Still, the Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Police Chiefs Association, CeaseFirePA and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association oppose the bill.

That the Pennsylvania State Police are lining up in opposition should be no great surprise, considering the Police Commissioner has been actively working with gun control groups, including CeaseFire PA, throughout the Commonwealth. You can see this letter here where the Commissioner of the PA State Police is working actively with MAIG Mayors to violate the state preemption law. He was appointed a few years ago by Governor Ed, so you know where his loyalties lie.

We have to make the State Police Commissioner an issue in the 2010 election for Governor. Any candidate we endorse has to be committed to making sure the State Police concentrates on their job of policing, and stays out of gun control as an issue. If that means firing the Commissioner, we need our candidate to be supportive of that end should it become necessary.

Doesn’t Even Work for Its Intended Purpose

See this article here:

The suspect, who carried the explosive in his underwear, passed through security at two airports — in Nigeria and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Plus he was not on any “no-fly” list, even though he was on a massive federal database of people with suspected ties to terrorists and his father apparently had warned U.S. embassy officials in Nigeria about his son.

Didn’t work to keep airline flights safe, which was its primary purpose, it’s not going to work any better to keep them from having access to guns.

New TSA Rules

I don’t think I will be flying again unless I absolutely have to. There’s more here. It’s a very difficult thing for government bureaucrats to accept, but you can’t defend against this level of threat. If someone wants to bring down a plane, over a long enough period of time, they are going to succeed, and there’s little in the way of security measures that will work that don’t involve profiling, interviews, and various other highly intrusive security measures that the Israelis use.

But despite the fact that the bureaucrats are claiming the system worked, and then turning around saying it didn’t, one thing still worked, and that’s the citizen militia. That’s not the first time that’s worked for us either. But the bureaucrat cannot acknowledge that, because it means we don’t need them. No, they will ratchet up the security theater until we all feel well protected.

Guns for Goons

I am rather amused by the transposition of this headline with the picture that follows. Not that Paul Helmke looks like a goon, but his smile has always creeped me out, because it seems permanently welded on. That picture ranks high on the creepy factor with the smile.

Gerlach Wants to Abolish Turnpike Commission

Capitol Ideas reports. I am in favor of getting rid of this obsolete patronage kingdom, and kudos to the Capitol Ideas commenter who said “But then how would we recycle old legislators and political cronies who can’t find work elsewhere?”

But, I am also remembering that PennDOT complained mightily when the PA Turnpike Commission decided to make the Turnpike 65 mph along its entire length, in violation of PennDOT’s speed limit guidelines in some areas. I would want to ensure, in turning the Turnpike over to PennDOT, that they must keep it 65MPH along the entire length, and not switch it back to 55MPH in the portions of the turnpike that traverse populated areas. Â As a daily commuter on the Turnpike, this is something I want to see in the bill.

Who’s Buying Guns Where?

Via Cemetery, here’s an NSSF report that shows the distribution of guns sales. AccurateShooter.com has some commentary, as well as visual aids.

Little Known Facts

Jacob is speaking of Chuck Schumer’s hunting trip, and mentions:

Common sense = New York City-style gun laws. Â He does brag about his shooting medal too whenever he feels it would score him some political points. Â For some reason, though, he doesnâ€™t brag about when asÂ State Assemblyman he voted to gut theÂ Sullivan Act and make all of New York (and New York City) right to carry. Â I have the vote sheet of him doing that.

So in this sense, Chuck Schumer isn’t that different than other half of New York’s Senate delegation. There’s not much in the way of principles in the political process. Everything is up for negotiation. Like Kirsten Gillibrand sold the Second Amendment out for down state votes, so did Chuck Schumer once upon a time. There’s a word for Senators who stand fast on principle, the political consequences be damned: “Former Senator.” Â It’s our job to make sure the political consequences line up on the side of being pro-Second Amendment.

Breaking Stereotypes

Hunters are so dangerous there were no accidental deaths during the Michigan firearms hunting season this November. Most hunters that die in the field are actually not shot, but have accidents like falling from tree stands or heart attacks.