Politics – Page 144 – Shall Not Be Questioned

I Feel Safer Already

EPIC has discovered through FOIA requests:

On June 24, 2011, EPIC released documents obtained from DHS as a result of EPIC’s lawsuit.

The disclosed documents include agency emails, radiation studies, memoranda of agreement concerning radiation testing programs, and results of some radiation tests.

The documents raise new questions concerning the radiation risks posed by the TSA full body scanner program. The records demonstrate:

TSA employees have identified cancer clusters allegedly linked to radiation exposure while operating body scanners and other screening technology. However, the agency failed to issue employees dosimeters – safety devices that would warn of radiation exposure.

The DHS has publicly mischaracterized the findings of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, stating that NIST “affirmed the safety” of full body scanners. NIST stated that the Institute did not, in fact, test full body scanners for safety, and that the Institute does not do product testing.

A Johns Hopkins University study revealed that radiation zones around body scanners could exceed the â€œGeneral Public Dose Limit.â€

A NIST study warns airport screeners to avoid standing next to full body scanners.

I’m usually rather skeptical of public health fear mongering, but this is a case where no one asked people whether they wanted to take screening this far. TSA just did it, and screw you if you don’t agree. Now we know there’s really been no testing on back scatter devices, and that NIST warned workers no to stand next to them.

Now granted, they would be getting some dose throughout the day, whereas you’ll just get it once, but how much leaks? And what’s the dose for the person in it? How do we know the dose being delivered is within specifications?

I don’t think we do. I don’t think TSA does.

Speculation Melson Won’t Fall on His Sword

From Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

I doubt that Melson would have had direct contact with Napolitano on this kind of clandestine effort, though.Â That seems to be much less likely than Melson having something on Holder.Â If (a veryÂ big â€œifâ€) Melson can show that Holder lied to Congress about what he knew and when he knew it â€” the old Watergate question â€” then Holder will have no choice but to resign or face impeachment.Â In fact, it hardly seems worth the effort for Melson to hold out on a resignation just to get Breuer.

Read the whole thing. It’ll be important to implicate higher ups, because otherwise the position of the Administration is going to be that we need Andrew Traver more than ever. The Administration has to take some bruises over this, or I think we’re likely dealing with Traver at some point, probably as a recess appointment.

Castle Doctrine Signed by Corbett

It’s a done deal folks. The law will take effect 60 days from now. Kudos to everyone who worked hard on this. I’d like particularly to thank Rep. Scott Perry and State Senator Richard Alloway. We wouldn’t have gotten here if not for their efforts.

From left to right, Senator Alloway, Governor Corbett, Senator Rich Kasunic, and behind them is John Hohenwarter, NRA’s lobbyist for PA.

GOP House Castle Doctrine sponsors with Governor Corbett. Seated at the table on the right is Rep. Scott Perry, and Rep. Daryl Metcalfe to the left.

See these comments by the House and Senate sponsors.

UPDATE from Bitter: Everyone wants to celebrate Castle Doctrine! Here’s yet another picture posted by lawmakers proud to have been part of passing the Castle Doctrine bill. I’m not sure what group this is, as the only folks I recognize are Gov. Corbett, John Hohenwarter, and Rep. Stephen Bloom, a freshman Republican in the House.

Playing the Political Game

NSSF recently issued a report on their 2010 election activity with the recently founded NSSF PAC. It’s nothing too exciting – they gave to equal number of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate. But, what I find relevant about the report is that this is a PAC that just started taking donations last April. While it only existed for the last 8 months of the two-year election fundraising cycle, NSSF donations topped what the Brady Campaign PAC raised in the entire cycle. NSSF was also able to contribute nearly as much as the Brady Campaign’s PAC.

Now, I know that the Brady folks have been winding down their PAC. It’s clear if you look at the history that they don’t make raising money for it a priority, and that’s understandable if they are shifting their strategy away from political fundraising. But, they’ve still been around for years and clearly still have some donors who consider it important and worth a donation. NSSF just started and is already putting up comparable numbers.

I find it funny since the line from anti-groups has always been that the gun industry is buying Congress. Heh. The NRA money is from gun owners. Now the gun industry is finally officially coming to the table. And we’re still winning.

The Weekly Standard to the Bathyscaph WaPo

It’s got to be difficult getting the message down so far in the tank, but Mark Hemingway of the Weekly Standard is trying:

And the NRA bears responsibility here how? There is no concievable law enforcement scenario where putting 2,500 guns into the hands of criminals would be justifiable. Ever. The ATF should take it’s lumps, and anyone who suggests that gun rights advocates are to be blamed here should have their head examined.

I’m going to agree with Mr. Hemingway’s assertion that we ought to get to the bottom of this before drawing conclusions. To anyone who isn’t the Washington Post editorial board, that’s really the most sensible thing.

Probably Not Constitutional

Mayor Helen Thomas of Darby is a MAIG mayor, so we should not be surprised to find out she doesn’t have much respect for other civil liberties either. Apparently she’s imposing a state of emergency:

An 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew is in effect for adults and juveniles for at least 10 days.

Anyone outside during that time can be stopped and questioned by police, though Police Chief Bob Smythe says theyâ€™re more concerned about groups loitering or causing trouble.

I’m somewhat familiar with Pennsylvania’s emergency powers statutes, and I do not believe that anyone in Pennsylvania has the authority to declare a state of emergency except the Governor. Even then, the statute does not give the Governor the power to suspend constitutional rights.

Thomas is also going to have difficulty with the Supreme Court case ofÂ Papachristou v. Jacksonville. It seems quite unlikely to me that a curfew imposed on adults, by a mayor likely acting outside of her legal powers, in response to ordinary crime, rather than riot or disaster, would pass constitutional muster.

How About That?

Turns out there are law enforcement methods out there for taking dangerous criminals into custody that don’t involve breaking down doors.

We Don’t Need Castle Doctrine or High Cap Magazines

The city politicians who believe this title need to explains the bands of feral teenagers wandering their city and beating people to the point of hospitalization. Given that we know the city will prosecute you for defending yourself against people intent on just giving you a thorough beating, it’s yet another reason not to go into the city.

According to the police report of the incident, Guendelsberger was “jumped” by 30 to 40 men who punched and kicked her numerous times. Police said they checked the area for surveillance but had no luck.

Shortly before Guendelsberger’s assault, police said, they responded to another assault, about five blocks away at Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue, of a 20-year-old man who said that he was attacked by a large group of men and women.

Police said that he was treated for a bruise and abrasion under his right eye.

Twitter users said that the mob ranged from 50 to 100 people and that participants not only assaulted people but also threw trash cans and lit fireworks.

I’ll be honest with you, it’s getting to the point I don’t know if you can carry enough gun in that city. The politicians who run the city should be ashamed. Green St. and Broad isn’t exactly the ghetto.

Ray Nagin is as Crazy as a June Bug

It turns out Ray Nagin is completely off his rocker, at least according to his new book:

â€œAnd after several rounds of going back and forth, our unwelcome visitors got the message that we were not going to allow them to take over or gain access to my room to plant bugging devices.â€ […]

â€œI thought to myself, â€˜Iâ€™m a dead man! I have just publicly denounced the governor, U.S. Senators, FEMA and the president of the United States,â€™â€ he writes. â€œI started wondering if during the night I would be visited by specially trained CIA agents. Could they secretly shoot me with a miniature, slow-acting poison dart? […]

Nagin admits he also suffered pangs of paranoia on the Monday after the storm, when he visited the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship that docked near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and served as a base of federal operations.
There, he was escorted to an infirmary where two medical staffers â€œhad orders to examine me and give me shots.â€

â€œI was still a little paranoid and again started imagining a secret CIA plot where in six months I would be gone,â€ he writes. â€œAfter thinking for a minute, I said to them, â€˜Okay, you can give me shots, but I want you to do the same for my two security guys.â€™

â€œMy thinking was it would have been easier to spin that stress ultimately took me out, but it would be much harder to explain all three of us suddenly dying mysteriously,â€ writes Nagin, who said during Wednesdayâ€™s briefing that his sense of suspicion abated shortly after his visit to the ship.

And this is before he goes into the conspiracy to rid New Orleans of black people. Now I understand why this guy doesn’t trust anyone with firearms. It’s projection. He probably doesn’t trust himself, and assumes everyone else is as much a loon as he is. He has good judgement for himself. I’m not sure Ray Nagin is the kind of guy I want having a gun either, let alone running a city.

Isn’t it amazing how off balance so many of our opponents are? At least he was kind enough to document his delusions for posterity.

Issa Says WaPo Apologist Piece Wrong

Just to show how poor the integrity of the Washington Post has become, the Daily Caller notes an Issa Spokesperson saying:

â€œWe have had people who have contacted us before the Washington Post,â€ Hill said. â€œThey told us people in the Justice Department were trying to push this story and I think a number of publications didnâ€™t think it was credible or, for whatever reason, decided not to run it.â€

I don’t think the WaPo cares much how credible it really is, as long as it fits the narrative. CBS News apparently isn’t buying it either.