Politics – Page 120 – Shall Not Be Questioned

SOTU Summarized

Hey, aren’t I awesome? I killed Bin-Laden. Congress sucks because they won’t work with me. You kind of suck too, by the way. The rich, they also totally suck because they aren’t paying as much as Warren Buffet’s secretary. What we really need is a government program, and if you put that on my desk, I’ll sign the shit out of it right now. Not everything is bad, because Master Lock kicks ass. If you think things are bad today, it’s because we don’t work together like Navy Seals do. Did I mention I killed Bin-Laden? Goodnight capitalist pigs.

– Barack Obama

Philly’s Murder Problem

We’ve covered for months the fact that Philadelphia is cooking the books when it comes to reporting murders in the city. Even when murders are up over last year, they keep their little green downward pointing arrow posted.

Those are the current numbers. In the first 23 days of the year, Philly has had 27 murders. That’s 1.17 murders per day so far. But their little PR people want you to believe that crime is on the decline and everything is just fine as long as that little green arrow points down. Move along and don’t ask questions, sheeple.

Tweet the SOTU

Sean has a few pertinent questions he’s trying to get in front of the Administration during the SOTU, including convenient links for helping get the word out across Twitter.

Banning Perfume

SayUncle notes that New Hampshire is considering a ban on perfume for public workers, using some of the same logic that proponents of smoking bans were proffering. Everyone’s ran into women who smell like they bathe in perfume, and certainly there are men who seem to shower in Aqua Velva. But it seems to me that people aren’t willing to surrender much personal discomfort for the sake of freedom. Bitter is asthmatic, and perfume is a trigger for her, but her philosophy is not to make her problem everyone else’s; there are discomforts that must be tolerated in respecting the freedom and autonomy of others. This form of extreme selfishness is the same mentality that is getting peanut butter and jelly banned from elementary schools. I’d also note that this form of selfishness is highly prevalent among our opponents as well.

Real Preemption Getting a Hearing in Pennsylvania

NRA is alerting members on two bills proceeding in Pennsylvania. One is a bill to give some teeth to our preemption provision, HB1523, sponsored by Daryl Metcalfe. This bill does not go nearly as far as the Florida law, but at least puts the municipality on the hook for legal fees and damages.

The other bill, HB 1668, offers some reforms to transportation of firearms (which are basically handguns, SBRs, and SBSs under PA law). Our transport laws are technically as strict as New Jersey, in that you have to go directly to/from allowed locations for transporting. The only difference is that Pennsylvania licenses are much easier to get, which exempts you from all the silliness. This would allow anyone who isn’t prohibited from firearms possession, or transporting for an unlawful purpose, is permitted to transport a firearm. End of story.

I should note that CeaseFirePA is opposing even this common sense measure:

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee plans to consider legislation that threatens financial penalties for towns that have taken local action in favor of lost or stolen handgun reporting – a reform which police say could help to crack down on illegal gun traffickers and straw purchasers.

If this were true, there would be prosecutions to point to. They would be able to point to instances where this law has been used to punish… well… anybody. For such a necessary law, it doesn’t seem to be very useful. I’m surprised they can still say this with a straight face. NRA is asking folks to contact their state reps:

Please call AND e-mail your state RepresentativeÂ TODAY and urge him or her to support both critical pieces of legislation.

To find contact information or help identifying your state Representative, please clickÂ here.

Grave Bodily Injury or Harm

Thirdpower has a picture of the Vietnam Veteran who was beat within an inch of his life in PhillyÂ (Warning, the picture is graphic). The question for those in the City is whether you want to end up like this, or end up flushing your life savings down the toilet fighting the attempted murder charge that’s sure to come from City prosecutors if you use deadly force on a gang of feral teenagers. I should also note some recent news that Gerald Ung is now facing a civil suit from his attacker. Castle Doctrine should prevent this, but since this attack happened before that law went into effect, I’m not sure that can be grounds for dismissing the suit. Ung’s attacker is also suing some of the bars that served them alcohol, including Eulogy Belgian Tavern, one of my favorite haunts in the City.

The real solution is to avoid Philadelphia. You get your life ruined either way; the only question is whether or not you want to walk away with all your brain cells intact, and without the need to seek major surgery. Unfortunately, we live in a society where no one is responsible for their own actions anymore, and we can hardly tolerate consequences for thuggish behavior if it involves good people defending themselves.

UPDATE: From the article at “Above the Law”:

Good luck getting punitive damages â€” or any damages at all, for that matter â€” out of Gerald Ung. As noted above by one of our sources, Ung is presumably judgment proof. His criminal defense lawyer at trial, renowned defense attorneyÂ Jack McMahon, won a nice acquittal for him â€” but it probably cost Ung a pretty penny. As we wrote at the time of theÂ acquittal, â€œthe services of Jack McMahon donâ€™t come cheap. The Ungs easily owe McMahon six figures.â€

Ung’s prize for his successful self-defense will be debt up to his eyeballs to Jack McMahon for, quite likely, the rest of his life. I do hope Ung is good at law and becomes a successful attorney. He may have a chance at paying off his debt quickly. For some poor Joe Sixpack who drives a truck for a living, what do you think his options are?

So Gingrich is the New Anti-Mitt

Instapundit has a pretty good round-up of the South Carolina primary. I’ve always liked Newt Gingrich the professor, but I’ve never much liked Newt Gingrich the politician. I noted before about Newt that the 1990s called, and they want their candidate back. He is a more viable alternative, in my opinion, to Rick Santorum, but I still worry that he can’t beat Obama.

I think it was probably fine for Mitt to lose South Carolina. What was not fine for Mitt is to get creamed in South Carolina, which is what happened. If Mitt doesn’t take Florida, he’s going to be in serious trouble as the front runner. He will have lost momentum, and money and support will start flowing to his opponents. If he experiences a long enough losing streak, he can start counting on a brain drain for his campaign, as the rats start to jump off the sinking ship.

On the Second Amendment, the decisive advantage to Gingrich is that he will likely pick much more reliable judges on that issue than Mitt will, though I certainly don’t think Gingrich would be a guarantee. There are plenty of conservative judges out there who don’t like the Second Amendment any more than many left-wing judges. But I give the edge to Gingrich on that count. Gingrich’s record legislatively is not bad, as he delivered on getting an Assault Weapons Ban repeal through the House in 1996, only to have it killed by Bob Dole in the Senate. My big concern about Gingrich is that if he’s the nominee, Obama gets another term.

Another Beating Victim in Philadelphia

This time a 64 year old man a gang just decided to beat for sport. Remember, this is the same city that decided to prosecute Gerald Ung for putting six bullets into the alpha male of an attacking gang. City officials are harder on defenders than on attacking criminals. This is getting so bad, it’s irresponsible of city officials for not encouraging people to get permits and arm themselves. Hell, if I were Nutter, I’d tell the Philadelphia police to set up a firearms training course to help citizens into LTCs. But I’ll eat my hat if I ever see that day.

SOPA and Gun Control

From PJ Media:

Q: What does the proposed SOPA (â€œStop Online Piracy Actâ€) legislation have in common with gun control?

A: Both would punish the innocent for the bad acts of a guilty few.

The article proceeds to tear apart the logic of gun control as being virtually identical to that of SOPA. I had never realized until I started interacting with gun control fanatics more how they really are incapable of drawing a distinction between responsible individuals and misusers. Their position is quite simple that because we have no good way of predetermining whether someone is responsible, or will misuse, we have to assume everyone will misuse. This is a poor basis for a free society.

Inconsistency in Some SOPA Opposition

Eugene Volokh notes the hefty amount of corporate free speech going on today, and points out that many of the SOPA opponents were derisive of the idea that corporations can have protective speech. I generally think it’s poor business practice for corporations to get involved with controversial political issues, but in the case of something like SOPA, which has little if any real grassroots support, it’s probably safe. But while I think it’s a poor idea for companies to insert themselves into politics, I believe they have a right to speak.