Politics – Page 352 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Putting The Fast in “Fast” Eddie

Looks like the legal work on the I-80 toll issue goes to the Governor’s law firm.Â Conflict of interest?Â Bite your tongue!

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (D) has handed his former law firm millions in payment for legal work on plans to toll Interstate 80 and privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Over a period of about a year, the law firm Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll has collected $2 million, according to invoices obtained by yardbird.com. Rendell decided that the law firm where he worked as a partner from 2000 to 2002 was better suited to the job, rather than use the seventy lawyers on staff at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Rendell fundraisers became big winners in the toll road deal. Kenneth M. Jarin, co-chairman of Rendell’s re-election campaign, billed the state $24,703.15 for forty-six hours of work with Ballard Spahr. The payment was approved by Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann, who also happens to be Jarin’s wife.

Pennsylvanians, as someone who lives near the City of Brotherly love, let you me give you some brotherly advice.Â Never, ever, under any circumstances, and I don’t care how much you like the guy, elect someone from the Philadelphia political machine to a state wide office.Â Just say no!Â Don’t do it!Â Do the Dew instead, for all I care, but Philadelphia politics is dirty and corrupt, and we don’t need it soiling the rest of our fair state.

Obama Decoder Ring

Jeff points out what Obama is saying lately about guns:

I certainly believe in the Second Amendment right, that people have the right to bear arms. But I also believe it is important to have some common-sense gun laws in place to make sure that straw purchasers arenâ€™t being used to fill up our streets with illegal firearms, and that we have stronger background checks so we keep firearms out of the hands of people with mental health problems or young people or those who have committed crimes. I think it is important for us to strengthen our ability to trace guns that have been used in crimes to gun dealers to make sure they are not operating in an illegal way. I think itâ€™s possible to reconcile the tradition of gun ownership, and the rights of sportsmen, hunters and those who want to protect their families, with keeping handguns that are used in crime off the streets. You can protect the rights of gun owners and at the same time keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Let’s get out the Obama Secret Decoder Ring and see what he’s really calling for.Â What do you know?Â It’s basically the Brady Campaign playbook.Â I wonder who he’s been talking to?

Obama Statement	Secret Deocder Ring Says
Common-sense gun laws in place to make sure that straw purchasers aren’t being used to fill up our streets with illegal firearms”	We need to pass a gun rationing scheme here in the United States! One gun a month, and that’s just a start.
and that we have stronger background checks so we keep firearms out of the hands of people with mental health problems or young people or those who have committed crimes	What we need is to close the gun show loophole once and for all.
I think it is important for us to strengthen our ability to trace guns that have been used in crimes to gun dealers to make sure they are not operating in an illegal way.	I promised Bloomy I would get rid of that Tiahrt Amendment, you know. He said if I did that, he’d stay out of the race
I think itâ€™s possible to reconcile the tradition of gun ownership, and the rights of sportsmen, hunters and those who want to protect their families, with keeping handguns that are used in crime off the streets.	I think we can reconcile the tradition of gun ownership, and the rights of sportsmen, hunters, and thos who want to protect their families, with keeping handguns that are used in crime out of the hands of anyone

Ooops… I get he got a little carried away with himself on that last one. The Brady’s must not have told him we don’t talk about handgun bans anymore in public.

Important News On Pennsylvania Gun Bills

There’s a bill coming up for vote in Pennsylvania, known as House Bill 1845, which increases the penalty for possessing a firearm with an altered or obliterated serial number from a first degree misdemeanor to a second degree felony (underlined portions of a bill are parts being changed.Â Non underlined parts are part of the existing law).

Now, the important part for gun owners is what’s planning to be amended to this bill. Â I’m hearing there are plans to ammend the “Castle Doctrine” provision, as well as a provision that will make possession of a Pennsylvania License to Carry Firearms a substitute for the PICS check.Â These amendments are sponsored by State Representatives Steven Cappelli (R- 83) and Richard Stevenson (R-8).

But there is a danger lurking. Â State Representative David Levdansky (D-39) has filed an amendment for the “victimized twice” provision that enacts criminal penalties for failure to report a lost or stolen firearm.Â It’s important to call your state representatives and ask them to support the Stevenson and Cappelli amendments, while opposing the Levdansky amendment.Â Getting HB 1845 to come out clean depends on us, so let’s get to work.

Philly Loses in Commonwealth Court

Now they will have to take it before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania:

The state’s Supreme Court will have to reverse itself on a 12-year-old gun-control decision if Philadelphia is going to adopt and enforce its own gun laws, the chief judge of Commonwealth Court told the city yesterday.

President Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter made her statement during a preliminary hearing on a lawsuit filed by City Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller. They want the court to recognize Philadelphia’s authority to enact stricter gun laws regarding gun purchases and ownership.

Leadbetter, however, suggested that Commonwealth Court was just a stop on the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1996 upheld a state law forbidding municipalities from regulating firearms.

Until then, Leadbetter asked, “Aren’t we just a way station?”

If the Supreme Court doesn’t go our way, it’ll be the end of preemption in Pennsylvania.Â Every city and town will want exemptions, and many of them will pass restrictive laws.Â It’ll be impossible to travel the commonwealth to hunt, shoot, and carry for self-defense without significant legal risk.Â I hope the Supreme Court reaffirms the 1996 Ortiz decision, and upholds preemption.

If Miller and Clarke fail in court, Mayor Nutter volunteered to take things into his own hands. At the rally, Nutter said he would sign into law gun-control measures being considered by City Council, then enforce them – even though the state Legislature says it can’t be done.

I anxiously await Attorney General Corbett, who is on the short list for governor, and no doubt needs the help of gun owners, to explain to Mayor Nutter than this will be illegal, and officials enforcing these laws can expect to be prosecuted under our Official Oppression statute.

Pressure from Pittsburgh

Now Pittsburgh is jumping into the action to screw gun owners in Pennsylvania:

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution encouraging state legislators to pass a law making it mandatory to report lost or stolen handguns.

Council President Doug Shields, along with law enforcement and members of CeaseFire PA, will forward the resolution to Harrisburg, where they hope legislators will address the issue.

A similar bill proposed in the state House last year was tabled in November.

“If any reasonable person loses an item of value in a burglary or theft, they would report it,” Shields said. “These guns are finding their way to crime scenes and killing our sons and daughters.”

Yes, they would report it.Â But we don’t throw them in jail if they don’t do it.Â This is not an obvious law to someone who doesn’t follow this issue closely, and I’m not about to stand by and watch these people turn Pennsylvania into New Jersey where “when it comes to guns, the citizens acts at his peril” is uttered by courts before good people are issued devastating fines or sent off to the pokey.Â This is a bad law, and it must be stopped.

An Amusing Line of Argument

Remember the gun related t-shirt incident in Pennsylvania we talked about a few days ago?Â Dave Hardy reminds us that NRA fought one of these cases already, and had this to say:

NRA had one of those cases, and won it. Had some fun with the school, pointing out that every classroom has the Virginia flag in it. A flag that depicts a woman holding a spear, a corpse at her feet, and the motto Sic Semper Tyrannis. Oh, and for some reason she has one breast bare. So nobody is allowed to have an image of a weapon, yet in every classroom there is an official image of one, indeed a depiction of homicide, capped with a threat to do, and a bit of nudity!

So much for zero tolerance eh?

New Jersey Assault Gun

Thirdpower has a little fun at Bryan Miller’s expense.Â Bryan frequently uses the term “assault gun” to describe that which is illegal in The Garden State.Â Well, here’s what an assault gun really is.Â Thirdpower’s version has the howitzer replaced with a Marlin Model 60, which are considered evil assault ~~guns~~ firearms in New Jersey.

Joined ANJRPC

In honor of Bryan Miller, I have decided to become a dues paying member of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs.Â Not many people think to join other state associations, but I think it’s important to keep the fight alive in those states.Â It helps that I’m ten minutes down the road from Trenton if they ever have a rally day like we’re having in Pennsylvania.

Drunk With Power

In a way that would be familiar to David Codrea, Elliot Spitzer had a reputation for abusing his office to silence critics.Â While perusing Classical Values, I came across this blast from Spitzer’s past:

Last April, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by me titled “Mr. Spitzer Has Gone Too Far.” In it I expressed my belief that in America, everyone–including Hank Greenberg–is innocent until proven guilty. “Something has gone seriously awry,” I wrote, “when a state attorney general can go on television and charge one of America’s best CEOs and most generous philanthropists with fraud before any charges have been brought, before the possible defendant has even had a chance to know what he personally is alleged to have done, and while the investigation is still under way.”

Since there have been rumors in the media as to what happened next, I feel I must now set the record straight. After reading my op-ed piece, Mr. Spitzer tried to phone me. I was traveling in Texas but he reached me early in the afternoon. After asking me one or two questions about where I got my facts, he came right to the point. I was so shocked that I wrote it all down right away so I would be sure to remember it exactly as he said it. This is what he said:

“Mr. Whitehead, it’s now a war between us and you’ve fired the first shot. I will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done. You will wish you had never written that letter.”

No doubt Mr. Whitehead will have the last laugh at this petty and vindictive tyrant.Â The people of New York should be ashamed for ever electing this man governor.

Obama Tops $300 Billion Mark

That’s how much more of your money he wants to spend.Â It’s 36% higher than what Hillary Clinton is calling for.Â Guess where that money is going to come from?Â That’s right.Â Out of our wallets.

I would note for those of you who think there’s no difference between these two socialist weenies and John McCain, that that National Taxpayer Union, who is keeping track of Obama’s promises to take more and more of our hard earned dollars, lists McCain as a Taxpayer Friend.Â He ranks 6th in the Senate.