Politics – Page 115 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Romney Derangement Syndrome

Roger L. Simon thinks the phenomena is real. I do have to say, the idea that Romney is a marxist is rather farfetched, but I’ve also heard people claim it:

So why pick on Romney over this? In truth, we are in the era of Romney Derangement Syndrome. It has gone so far that in the PJ Media comments today, someone wrote there was no hope for the country because Obama and Romney wereÂ both Marxists.

Really? The co-founder of Bain Capital is a Marxist? Well, I suppose if Bain were wildly unsuccessful you could hypothesize some kind of Cloward-Piven covert sabotage of our economic system was being attempted. But it wasnâ€™t â€” and isnâ€™t.

My big problem with Mitt is that he’s uninspiring and blows with the wind (or just plain blows, as you will). But hey, if my alternative is Mr. War On Porn, I can get over it.

Looks like the GOP chickened out on preemption enforcement. There were a few local reps here that looked to be wavering. Tabling might have done the bill a favor if we need time to get the needed votes and support, since if it had been voted down it’d be dead for the session. But it’s disappointing that some are going soft on the issue. Preemption is a bedrock principle for gun owners.

PA Voter ID Bill

There is a bill being considered in the Pennsylvania House that would require identification to vote. Folks on the left are making a big deal out of having to show identification to exercise a fundamental right. I doubt they’ll find any sympathy on this argument here, since I’m sure we can all think of another fundamental right which can’t be exercised without showing identification. The left made this bed, and they can sleep in it.

If the government can restrict one fundamental right (right to keep and bear arms) by requiring government issued photo ID, with an aim to prevent crime, it can sure require photo ID for another fundamental right with an aim to prevent crime (voter fraud).

UPDATE: It just passed 104-88.

Amish High-Speed Chase?

It’s not every day you’ll see articles like this, with the quote “Police say several other buggies fled the scene,” in what looks to be an alcohol fueled chase, Amish style.

Lawsuit Against Philly Settled

Looks like Mark Fiorino has settled with the City of Philadelphia for $25,000. They will retrain their officers on the legalities of open carry. Hopefully this settlement will convince the city it doesn’t want any more cases like this.

Thoughts on Voting, Handguns, & Chimps

As random voter registration drives get underway, I think this is a very well stated argument against mindlessly saying that any random voter participation is a good thing.

Itâ€™s all well and good to encourage eligible citizens to select who will govern them, but what chaps me is that nowhere in this get-out-the-vote fervor â€” which will only increase as November approaches â€” will we hear anyone suggest that before someone tramps to the voting booth, he ought to educate himself.

Educate himself about what? Thereâ€™s plenty for that list. Economics. Public policy. The actual records of the actual candidates. Hell, the actual names of the candidates. All this would be an improvement overÂ whatÂ theÂ averageÂ studentÂ knowsÂ about history, politics, and most important, the principles that undergird freedom and prosperity.

Itâ€™s a curious position, vote-for-votingâ€™s-sake, given that the same voices calling for it tend to favor insuring that students know in exquisite detail every possible birth control option available in the Western hemisphere. They recognize, in other words, that action in ignorance is inherently dangerous.

We were just commenting about this issue locally. In 2008, there was a line outside our polling place for the precincts that held various apartment complexes in the area. It filled the voting room, went down one somewhat short hall, filled a very long hallway, and then still left about 40 people outside. It seemed like the Obama get out the vote efforts were strong in those complexes. However, in any other national election, you’ll only see a short little line coming out of their voting area at the school. In the primaries and local/state-only elections, the room is close to empty. In other words, these aren’t people who are paying attention to elections or issues. They only show up sporadically when told to do so by someone else. We wonder how long the line will be for those precincts this year.

In the linked piece, Tony Woodlief finishes with this thought:

Hereâ€™s a thought experiment: imagine that, statistically speaking, whenever droves of students rushed to the polls, they pulled the lever for the candidate who most favors limited government. Does anyone for a hot half-second doubt that Mr. Sanchez, rather than brainstorming ways to make voting more like ordering a pizza, would instead want to treat it more like buying a handgun?

And thatâ€™s how we should at least to think about it, which is to say that we ought no more encourage someone who doesnâ€™t know what the Constitution is to vote than we ought to give a chimpanzee a shotgun. In either case youâ€™re not exactly sure what weâ€™ll happen, but chances are it wonâ€™t be pretty.

NRA Getting Involved in Senate Primary Challenge

NRA usually doesn’t get involved with primary challenges, but it looks like they are getting involved in an attempt to unseat Dick Lugar:

Cox said the NRA isnâ€™t waiting for the presidential election to get involved, turning to key Senate races to endorse pro-gun candidates even in primaries. Wednesday, for example, the powerful lobby backed Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock over Sen. Dick Lugar in the GOP primary. â€œThe Supreme Court is certainly running in every Senate race in the country,â€ he told Secrets.

Looks like NRA wants to hedge its bets and try to improve the Senate in case we’re looking at another 4 years of Obama. I think the Senate is a weak check against Obama when it comes to court nominees, but any little bit can help. Lugar is not on any committees that could generally cause trouble for NRA, but he’d be quick to vote for cloture on a nominee who was just plainly unacceptable.

Hat Tip to Instapundit

Is This For Real? Say It’s a Hoax, McDonalds!

UPDATE: It’s a Hoax

Apparently McDonalds is teaming up with the NYPD to try to talk people into surrendering their 4th Amendment rights.

McDonaldâ€™s and the New York Police Department are launchingÂ Three Strikes, Youâ€™re In!, a new program that rewards New Yorkers for their patience with theÂ NYPDâ€™s â€œStop and Friskâ€Â policy.

This makes me glad I generally prefer to go to Wendy’s or Chic-Fil-A. But it gets better!

The company says that Three Strikes, Youâ€™re In! is a project of McDonaldâ€™sÂ 365Black.com, which celebrates African American culture and achievements all year round. Vouchers for â€œThree Strikes, Youâ€™re In!â€ may be downloaded at McDonaldâ€™s WebÂ site.

So McDonald’s idea of celebrating African American culture and achievements is, let me make sure I understand this, aiding and abetting the NYPD to stop and frisk more black people? To help convince blacks to surrender their rights under the constitution? To make them feel happy in the violation?

I think I feel pretty comfortable saying McDonalds is participating in a blatantly racist program here. Anyone out there among my readers who’s African American care to comment?

UPDATE: Hoax. Good. I don’t eat at McDonalds very often, but I’d hate to have to boycott it over something like this.

Pennsylvania Texting Ban Goes Into Effect

It even bans sending texts using Siri, which can be done hands free. This is one of the more useless bans I’ve seen, and is already been rendered moot by technology. With Siri I can send texts and e-mails through my Bluetooth earbud, without having to touch the phone. Talking to Siri is no more distracting than talking to a passenger. Also, it’s been shown that texting bans actually increase accidents, because people keep their phones down and remove their eyes further from the road. The problem with politicians is, when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. In this case, their hammer is legislation.

Getting Rid of PICS

Looks like a bill might finally be introduced, but some have issues, needless to say:

But firearm foes say that the state database includes records that the federal database doesn’t, such as protection-from-abuse orders and 580,000 mental-health records that would prohibit gun ownership. They say that a mere federal check could allow violent or mentally ill people to buy guns, opening the door to such calamities as the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings or the 2011 attempt to kill former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Um, if they can go next door and buy a shotgun or rifle, shouldn’t it be a concern to gun control supporters that there are 580,000 mental health records that Pennsylvania is keeping to itself? It seems to me the solution here isn’t keeping PICS, it’s making sure those records end up in the federal system.

Further, PICS isn’t as inefficient as Krieger claims, Henry said. The state database was operational for 510,000 hours last year, yet experienced problems for just 69.9 hours, or 1.4 percent of the time, Henry said. He said that his bureau plans to add new technology that should erase such outages.

As an IT professional, I’d be utterly embarrassed at 69.9 hours of downtime a year. For a 24/7/365 operation, 99.97 is about what I’d consider to be the minimal target. It’s not hard to go beyond that either. The state is getting 99.20% uptime, if the 69.9 hours is correct, rather than the 1.4% number (which represents 122.6 hours a year, and would be totally unacceptable for that type of operation. 1.4% downtime and it’s time to fire the IT staff).

Of course, the real reason the powers that be will oppose trashing PICS and going with the federal system is because it’ll make it harder for the Pennsylvania State Police to maintain their registry of firearms that should be in violation of state law, but have gotten around by claiming in court that it’s a record of sale, which isn’t a registry. Unfortunately the courts have agreed with this. It’d be nice if the bill could fix the definition of “registry” in state law, so the courts don’t have a lot of weasel room.

UPDATE: A reader points out that PICS is not a 24/7 operation, and they are down outside of business hours. That means the 1.4% is correct, and that’s just pathetic. That’s fire the IT staff time.

Category: Politics