Bitter notes over at her gun-blog-turned-food blog how Bloomberg is being two-faced about food control, and also that home brewers in Oregon are getting screwed by a bureaucratic ruling that’s just destroyed a good part of their community. Now they know how gun owners and shooters feel. Bureaucrats in this country are out of control. One thing I would suggest for fixing this problem is rediscovering a very strong non-delegation doctrine.
Category: Politics
Why We Won’t Negotiate
“Will it solve the problem?” Grace said. “No, but it is a step in the right direction.”
That right there is why we won’t give an inch. He really wants a mile. If he had to take it an inch at a time, that’s fine by him. The Brady Act was considered reasonable by many gun owners as well, and was quickly followed up with Brady II. Fortunately gun owners helped vote that Congress out before it could go anywhere. Dan Onorato seems like Joe Grace’s best buddy, in terms of supporting his agenda, and I’ve been less than impressed with what we’ve been able to accomplish in the PA House with the Democrats running things. If we don’t teach them a lesson this fall, the lesson is going to be that being in favor of gun control Pennsylvania doesn’t hurt you.
Patriotism on Display
According to TheNewspaper.com, some very patriotic citizens in Washington decided to decorate their town. Or rather, their local red light cameras.
Seeing the red, white, and blue flying is usually enough to make me smile. Seeing red, white, and blue used this creatively to get in the way of government revenue sources that do nothing for “public safety,” well, that just warms my heart.
Gun License Fees in Bucks and Montgomery Counties
Some are upset at the $46 dollar fee our sheriff charges. Apparently they still offer the state standard license, for the state fixed price:
Both Donnelly and Ricci said they give residents the option of paying $25 for a paper license, but applicants must provide their own photographs if they choose the cheaper option.
“If you want to upgrade that license we provide another service,” Ricci said. “If you want a plastic one that looks like a driver’s license, you pay $46.”
I should note that if the end result of this is that we all have to go back to the big paper licenses, I’m going to be pissed. I’m happy to pay extra for the credit card sized plastic license. I do believe the Sheriffs need to make it clear the paper license is available, and make sure everyone knows that. They do mention it on their web site, but it seems that the satellite offices are unaware.
Attacking Reciprocity – Again
The anti-gunners here don’t want to lose a battle, so they just keep delaying votes on bills. By not formally taking a vote, the bill stays alive. If it has a formal vote and they lose – even by the slimmest of margins – it’s done. I guess they are taking their lessons from New Jersey.
That said, fall is a dangerous time to have this come up. I would assume if the Pennsylvania legislature operates anything like our neighbors to the east, there’s a possibility for lame duck sessions. (This is my first full session living here, so don’t get angry if I’m wrong.) That’s always when lawmakers who have been booted out like to send one last “screw you” vote to their constituents. It’s one reason why we need to make sure that the pro-gun forces at all levels – federal and state – stay in office to help keep gun control off the table during those times.
Understatement of the Year
First, the back story:
During the latest episode of the battle over a sex tape showing ex-presidential candidate John Edwards being less than presidential, Judge Carl Fox stopped with a quizzical look.
Rielle Hunter, a campaign videographer with whom Edwards had an extramarital affair and a child, claims the tape is hers and wants it back from Andrew Young, the former Edwards aide who wrote a tell-all book about the politician’s quest for the White House.
At a hearing in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday, lawyers for Young argued that Hunter had no claim to it. They contended the video belonged to the Edwards campaign or his political action committee.
“What possible purpose would a campaign want – or desire for – a sex tape of a candidate involved in a sex act?” Fox asked rhetorically.
First of all, I love that there will forever be court records with that question in there. That should go down in the history of great political quotes. But, now for the understatement of the year:
“The campaign did not want some tapes that would upset Elizabeth Edwards,” said Wade Barber, the lawyer from Pittsboro on Hunter’s legal team.
Just because the campaign paid for them and didn’t want to use them in the Edwards for President commercials at the time doesn’t mean they don’t belong to the campaign. I mean, come on, you never know when having your lover film you in a sex act while cheating on your dying wife will be just the thing to rekindle a political career.
Food Control, Out of Control
After we slay the gun control dragon, food freedom may end up being my next pet issue. If the Government can control what you eat, any freedom you may think you have is an illusion. Much like having the means to protect one’s own life and liberty, having a freedom to eat foods of one’s own choice is fundamental. We might have to rename the blog “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snowflakes” with a tagline “Or Uncle Sam Will Shoot You.” It’s for your own good, you see.
Now it looks like the ATF is going to make sure everyone knows beer is bad for you, because if they don’t, FDA will, and we can’t have one out of control federal bureaucracy stepping on the turf of another out of control federal bureaucracy now, can we? At least one former inside the beltway blogger thinks that the GOP is utterly powerless to help us in this regard:
A big part of my thinking in coming to DC was to try and help to create a synergy between the Right on-line and the establishment GOP. I had hoped to forestall anything like an insurgency from the Right by finding common ground. What I didn’t realize is that today’s GOP is interested in no such thing. It can’t hear anyone outside the Beltway echo chamber and isn’t interested in listening to them even if they could.
Of course they aren’t interested. They are part of the problem too. As another blogger notes, the only way you can change anything is by getting folks back home fired up — you need a real grassroots movement:
What every Blogger should do, is get to know their local GOP clubs and Central Committees, and if time and distance permits, their County clubs too. Don’t just figure in publicity, but figure out other ways to expand your club (or committee’s) reach. Funds matter.  Knowing your County history and voting numbers also matter. […]
To make the RNC understand Bloggers and Tea Partiers, we have to crack County and State levels first. By the time of Election 2012 and 2014, we will become the establishment.
That’s likely what it’s going to take to change anything. But there is another model other than working through the political parties, and that’s working through single-issue interest groups that help channel grass roots efforts politically — basically the NRA model. That’s one thing the various “food lobby” groups have so far failed to understand. From the Belmont Club:
If sugary drinks become the new cigarettes the American Beverage Association bids fair to become the new Big Tobacco bogeyman. Wikipedia writes: “fighting the creation of soft drink taxes, the American Beverage Association, the largest US trade organization for soft drink bottlers, has spent considerable money to lobby Congress. The Association’s annual lobbying spending rose from about $391,000 to more than $690,000 from 2003 to 2008. And, in the 2010 election cycle, its lobbying grew more than 1000 percent to $8.67 million. These funds are helping to pay for 25 lobbyists at seven different lobbying firms.â€
They can spend all the money they want, but without votes to reward the supporters of food freedom, and punish the food nanny’s, lobbyist aren’t going to help all that much. What’s most likely to happen, realizing the futility, the industry will actively acquiesce to regulation, then realizing it can game the system to entrench the major players at the expense of upstarts, will engage in regulatory capture.
This is not inevitable; we’ve largely saved guns from this fate. We’ve not saved the industry from regulation, but firearms regulation has not, generally, resulted in a contraction of the industry into the hands of a few big players, and to a large degree, manufacturers are still allowed to design and market guns within a fairly broad regulatory framework. That might sound fantastic, but in comparison to the requirement for operating a pharmaceutical company, gun manufacturing is regulatory cake.
The big problem we have is honestly not from the left, but from conservatives and libertarians themselves. The problem is, to make an effect in politics requires collective action — something libertarians are very poor at. Collective is one of those dirty commie words, after all. People on the left are much more willing than libertarians and conservatives to put aside their personal agendas for the sake of the greater good, and for the sake of their cause. That’s why they are very effective at getting Government to do what they want. There’s a certain amount of selfishness that drives libertarian thought, but that becomes a barrier when it comes to convincing people that self-interest can be a good thing for a whole as well. That’s a paradox we’re going to have to figure out if we’re going to beat back leviathan.
Looks Like a First Amendment Violation to Me
A judge in Center County, PAÂ has ordered a newspaper to remove news articles from its archive due to the expungement of those records. This seems like a pretty straightforward constitutional violation to me. Eugene Volokh posted about this yesterday, and noted:
In addition to being substantively unconstitutional speech restrictions, the orders were also probably procedurally deficient, since it sounds like the newspapers were never given an opportunity to appear in court before the order was issued (and the judges didn’t find any extraordinary circumstances that justified a temporary restraint in the absence of notice to the newspapers). Thanks to Richard Lyon for the pointer.
Not much seems to get by the Volokh Conspirators. When Bitter was telling me this story on the way in I was excited that I might actually have something interesting to send their way, but already taken care of it seems. Capitol Ideas is covering it too.
Kennedy Staying on the Bench
I think we can all breathe a little easier knowing this, but I think we really need to make sure Obama is a one termer.
GOP Losing Steam On Judges?
I think this is very true, and if folks want to understand why NRA is reluctant to insert itself into nomination battles, this is a must read:
Sessions said the real reason for the breezy confirmation process boils down to this: “Republicans have always given more deference to a president†— a contention Democrats reject.
Yes, and that’s why this is a difficult fight with a Democratic Senate. Republicans are more interested in fair play in this process rather than standing up for what they believe in. I am not of the opinion that the Senate’s job is to examine qualifications and rubber stamp whatever the President sends down the pike. The Senates job is also to evaluate the judicial temperament of the nominee. I think we can all agree that believing the Declaration of Independence is a pretty basic starting judicial philosophy.
Kim Du Toit popularized the terms “Stupid Party” and “Evil Party” on the gun blogosphere years ago to serve in the stead of Republicans and Democrats respectively. It’s very true. It’s high time the GOP lost this attitude:
Republicans “have a respect for the proper balance between the executive and legislative branch — and appreciate the president is going to nominate [judges] more closely aligned with his political philosophy. … [They understand] that elections have consequences and if you’re in the minority, you shouldn’t try to upset that by filibustering nominees,†Kyl said. “We also thought that was not right, and I still believe it’s not right.â€
Pardon the language, but fuck that. If you’re in the situation the GOP is in, you use every tool on the tool belt to flight a delaying action until the calvary (hopefully the voters in November 2010) arrive with reinforcements. There are worse things than a vacancy on the Court. How about making the Democrats consider the “nuclear option” for once?
I suspect a lot of hate surrounding NRA over Kagan is rooted in the fact that people have no faith that the GOP will get dirty an actually stand up to Obama’s agenda. They want NRA to act like they have a pair, in stark contrast to the GOP.