Politics – Page 371 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Midge Rendell Longs for “Benevolent Dictator”

Via a press release from State Representative Daryl Metcalf:

Â On November 8, 2007 a panel discussion was held in Philadelphia by The National Association of Women Judges entitled, “Separation of Powers: What Does It Mean?â€Â Governor Rendellâ€™s wife, a federal judge and member of the panel, made a shocking statement that should have made headlines the following morning.Â Following her comments lamenting that there are issues that are not going to be resolved legislatively because they are so difficult, issues such as health care, immigration reform, social security and a national gun law, Judge Rendell stated, â€œGee, a benevolent dictator would really be good right about now to, to put in health care and to put in some of these policies that we all want, but somehow the gridlock within the legislature makes it impossible.â€

It should be noted that Midge Rendell was placed on the federal bench by Bill Clinton in 1994, than elevated to the third circuit court of appeals by President Clinton in 1997.Â There are exactly the kind of people the Clinton’s like.Â That’s why you can count me in the anybody but Hillary crowd.

This is not an appropriate sentiment from a federal judge.Â God help us if the Clintons get another eight years of appointing the likes of Midge Rendell to the federal bench.

Virginia Speeding Shenanigans

Bitter is too busy to blog about Dave Albo’s latest attempt to stick it to the citizens of Virginia, but I’m glad TD did.Â It needs to be told.

Pennsylvania, Sportsmens Paradise

It’s Louisiana’s moniker, but we pretty impressively rank:

Texas may have more hunters and anglers than Pennsylvania, and Texans may spend more money on their outdoor pursuits, but Keystone State hunters spend more days hunting than those in any other state.

A study released last week by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Congressional Sportsmenâ€™s Foundation ranks Pennsylvania among the top five states in all five hunting-related categories.

That includes first for days afield (16 million), second for number of resident hunters (933,000), spending ($1.7 billion) and hunting-related jobs (28,000), and fourth for number of out-of-state hunters (111,000).

When the stateâ€™s 830,000 anglers are added to the mix, Pennsylvania ranks fifth in the country in total number of resident sportsmen with 1.4 million, following Texas (2.6 million), Florida (2 million), California (1.7 million) and Ohio (1.48 million).

And the folks in Philadelphia would be happy to throw it all away for the sake of looking like they are doing something about violence in Philadelphia, instead if, you know, doing something.

Philly Homicide Rate

Despite all the hewing and hawing that the city needs gun control in order to get control of its skyrocketing homicide rate, it is actually on par to drop 3% in 2007. That’s not to say there’s nothing to worry about; this is still way too high. But notice this:

And what does Mooney attribute this 3% drop to?

“I think with the difference this year; you have to give credit to increased community awareness and involvement in the violence.”

John Appledorn of Citizens Crime Commission whole-heartedly agrees:

“Basically what you have is that people are fed up. They are sick and tired of the criminals running this community. They’re getting away with murder, they are terrorizing people and they are going to make that phone call and get them off the street.”

Appledorn says the Citizens Crime Commission has helped police with tips on cases from graffiti to murder. That number is 215-546-TIPS.

So communities being more willing to work with police can make a difference? I’m shocked, really.

Tyler Cowen on Ron Paul

Not much going on with our normal blogging topic over the holidays, so I’ll pick on Ron Paul some more.Â Tyler Cowen echos some of my feelings in regards to Congressman Paul:

Many libertarians see the Paul candidacy as their chance to have an impact and they may well be right.Â There is also no one else for them to support.Â But, raw milk or not, I am not myself tempted to take a stance this year in favor of any of the candidates, Paul included.Â Liberty is lacking in the United States but I’d like to see it more closely bundled with reasonableness, moderation, and yes pragmatism; I am looking to advance on all fronts at the same time.Â Call me fussy if you wish.

I fear that Ron Paul is so taken with his own ideas that he is unable to see how or when his views might ever be wrong; it is in that sense I consider him insufficiently intellectual.

I’m sure that’s going to make for some interesting comments over at Marginal Revolution.Â Many will take the “insufficiently intellectual” as an accusation that Ron Paul is a stupid man, which I wouldn’t agree with.

Mayor Bozo

John Street, throughout his administration, refused to accept pay raises.Â This was good, since he honestly didn’t deserve one.Â Apparently Street thinks he was such a fantastic mayor, that he deserves his pay raises after all, and has decided to collect them from the city before leaving office.

More on Incandescent Light Ban

Justin has more information on the incandescent light ban passed by Congress.Â Looks like halogen bulbs will be affected as well.Â I’ve decided that when I get home, I will remove all my CF light bulbs in protest of Congress forcing me to use them.Â Say no to CFL!Â Say no toÂ Congress!

Dinesh D’Souza Can Kiss My Yule Tide Ass

Ilya Somin takes him to task over his assertion that libertarians are conservatives who are either gay, drug using, or amoral.Â Â As someone Â who is neither gay, nor a user of illicit substances, and who leads a pretty conservative personal life, I take great exception to the implication.

If Dinesh D’Souza wants to understand why the Republican Party is in utter disarray, the far right’s treatment of the libertarian wing has something to do with that.Â Just look at all the passion Ron Paul has ignited, and he’s a total kook.

Quote of the Day

When I am President, I will work to protect children from inappropriate video game content.

– Hillary Clinton

When Fred Thompson is President, I’m hoping he’ll work hard to protect our Republic from Hillary Clinton.

Ron Paul on the Civil War

I’m not going to jump on the “Ron Paul is racist!” bandwagon, because I don’t have any evidence that the man is, to be honest.Â I don’t agree that this statement to Tim Russert is evidence, but I do take exception to it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbOE4Ip7In0[/youtube]

I think Matt Yglesias said it best:

Obviously, yes, there were better ways to end slavery. That’s why Abraham Lincoln didn’t run on a platform that said “let’s have a bloody civil war!” Rather, his idea was to prevent the expansion of slavery into new territories and try to nudge the country in the direction of compensated emancipation. The South, though, decided that rather than abide by the results of the election, they would secede from the country and establish a new herrenvolk democracy committed to slavery uber alles. They, not Lincoln, put resolution of the slavery issue through the political process out of reach.

I pretty much agree Yglesias with this.Â I don’t think civil war was going to be avoided unless the issue of ending slavery went away, which it wasn’t going to do.Â Other countries were able to end slavery because they had much less to lose from doing so than the cotton states did.

I might agree that’s it’s a valid point of view that there were better ways to end slavery, but it’s views like this that make me very skeptical that Ron Paul is going to capture the mainstream and win the nomination for his party.Â It’s a shame too, because I like a lot of the ideas he espouses, I just think he’s a very poor vehicle for moving them forward.