Politics – Page 373 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Impact of Hunting on Pennsylvania

Here are some of the many ways that hunters impact our state’s economy, according to the Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation.

Pennsylvania’s 1.4 million hunters and anglers are among the most prominent and influential of all demographic groups, spending more than $3.5 billion a year on hunting and fishing, according to a new report.

That’s quite a lot.Â Other interesting facts:

Sportsmen support more jobs in Pennsylvania than Penn State University and the Philadelphia Airport combined (51,000 jobs vs. 45,000).

Annual spending by Pennsylvania sportsmen is more than the revenues of York-based BonTon Stores ($3.5 billion vs. $3.1 billion).

Annual spending by Pennsylvania sportsmen is more than the cash receipts from dairy products, cattle, greenhouse/nursery, mushrooms and broilers – the state’s top five grossing agricultural commodities ($3.5 billion vs. $3.1 billion).

Pennsylvania sportsmen spend $104 million anually on outboard boats and engines to get out on the water and around the rivers for fishing and hunting.

Pennsylvania sportsmen outnumber the combined populations of Allentown, Erie, Pittsburgh, Reading, and Scranton, two to one (1.4 million vs. 680,297).

More Pennsylvania residents hunt and fish each year than attend Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia 76ers games combined (1.4 million vs. 1.3 million).

The economic stimulus of hunting and fishing equates to an astounding $9.6 million a day being pumped into the state’s economy.

Certainly nothing to sneeze at.

PPL Wants to Build New Reactor

While Congress is trying to solve our energy problems by banning light bulbs, Pennsylvania Power and Light says it plans to file an application with the NRC to build a new reactor unit on its Susquehanna site.Â Â Building more nuclear power plants seems to me to be a preferable way to produce more emission-free power, rather than having Congress meddle in what kind of lighting I’m allowed to have in my house.

Addressing the Real Problems

Here’s a pretty good editorial talking bout Philadelphia’s problems, and unlike most of their politicians, looking for real solutions:

Access to family sustaining blue collar jobs is the first step toward economic empowerment for any community.Â If the black and other minority populations of Philadelphia are shut out of such jobs they have little hope of improving their quality of life.Â Such hopelessness is a breeding ground for despair and ultimately violence.Â To overcome that two things must occur: Philadelphiaâ€™s unions must become more open and accessible to black members, and non-union shops â€“ clearly most hospitable to minority employees â€“ must be given a level playing field to compete for government contracts.

Racism in unions is one of those not talked about practices that’s gone on in the northeast for a long time.Â Blacks and other minorities have been systematically kept out of many skilled trades, and it’s contributed a lot of the kinds of inner city poverty you see in the large northeastern cities.Â It’s one thing that City Council actually deserves some credit for addressing.

Congress Can Have My Lightbulbs …

… when they pry them from my cold dead hands. And you can thank president Bush for signing this piece of garbage.

“In this bill, we ban by 2012 the famously inefficient 100-watt incandescent bulb,” said Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat who co-sponsored that provision.

You can go fuck yourself Jane Harman. Seriously.

The bill requires a fivefold increase – to 36 billion gallons – in the amount of alternative home-grown fuels, such as ethanol, that must be added to the nation’s gasoline supply by 2022.

Good to see the corn farmers got their hands in this. Corn farmers can go fuck themselves too! [No offense intended to any corn farmers who read this, and aren’t actively participating in the conspiracy to force their product onto the American consumer]

Folks, our government is out of control, and pretty clearly George W. Bush and the Republicans aren’t going to do a thing about it. I have no problem with compact florescent bulbs, but if they didn’t have problems, they wouldn’t need government intervention to beat standard incandescents in the marketplace. The government has banned toilets that actually flush decently, and now light bulbs that are actually…. bright. Am I the only one who is tired of this bullshit?

UPDATE: Joe has more to say here.

UPDATE: Ride Fast & Shoot Straight too.

Philly Gossip

CBS 3’s news anchor Alycia Lane, was arrested for assaulting a New York City police officer. According to John Lott, she was looking to get a little help from Fast Eddie. He was making excuses for her on sports talk 610 apparently. You know, whether a police officer is involved here or not, if someone calls you a name, and you haul off and hit the person, it’s still assault. There’s not really any excuse for that.

But yeah, Ed Rendell doesn’t like you having a gun to protect yourself. Think you can count on the governor to make excuses for you if you were to run afoul of all the new gun laws he wants? Doubt it.

The Paul Problem

Club for Growth’s President Pat Toomey has a pretty good bit that strikes some chords with me on Ron Paul:

“Ron Paul’s record contains some very laudable components,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “On taxes, regulation, and political speech, his record is superb. His spending record is impressive, though Paul has recently embraced pork-barrel projects in direct contradiction to his vociferous opposition to unconstitutional appropriations by the federal government.”

Unfortunately, his stubborn idealism often takes Ron Paul further away from achieving the limited-government, pro-growth philosophy he advocates. This is certainly the case with school choice, free trade, tort reform, and entitlement reform, in which he votes against vital free trade agreements, competitive school choice initiatives, and tort reform proposals.

“While we give Ron Paul credit for his philosophical ideals, politicians have the responsibility of making progress, and often, Ron Paul votes against making progress because, in his mind, the progress is not perfect,” Mr. Toomey continued. “In these cases, although for very different reasons, Ron Paul is practically often aligned with the most left-wing Democrats, voting against important, albeit imperfect, pro-growth legislation. Ron Paul is, undoubtedly, ideologically committed to pro-growth limited-government policies, but his insistence on opposing all but the perfect means that under a Ron Paul presidency we might never get a chance to pursue the good too.”

Pat Toomey is the man the Pennsylvania GOP threw under the bus to save Arlen Specter (the wisdom of which I question almost every day). Pat understands politics is not a game of principle, but a horse trading game, the key being always making sure you’re getting a better horse than you had before. Ron Paul is holding out for the winning thoroughbred, which though admirable, isn’t likely to help much when you’re riding a mule.

UPDATE: War on Guns has a different take on it:

I guess if you allow the Club for Growth to be the arbiter of what is “good,” they might have a point. But if “good” is defined as allowing government to assume undelegated powers just because they’re doing your bidding, it should be obvious to all what a dangerous and destructive path that is. How much more evidence–aside from the sorry mess we’re in now–do we need?

Given the Club for Growth praised Ron Paul’s impressive record in many areas, I didn’t really take their report to be a huge ding against him.Â As I said, I admire Ron Paul’s dedication to his principles and the constitution, but the politicians people keep voting to send to Washington have created a political culture where people like Paul are marginalized.Â I’m an advocate of working within that system the voters in this country have given us, to move to a more classical liberal order, but that’s not to say I like having to do things that way.

New Jersey Bills Passed out of Committee

I guess it’s not surprising, but the three bills passed out of the New Jersey senate committee today, and are on their way to a vote on the floor. Interestingly, about 1/4 of the cars in the lot at the very crowded Valley Forge Gun Show had Jersey tags. There is a gun culture in New Jersey. There aren’t many anti-gun people, really. There’s no reason New Jersey shouldn’t be in play for the pro-gun side. It’s really disappointing.

UPDATE: Looks like the floor vote will be January 3rd.Â Call your senators, New Jersey folks!

Potty Mouth Gets Off

A woman in Scranton who was arrested for swearing loudly at her toilet when it backed up has been let go:

However, District Judge Terrence Gallagher earlier this week dismissed the charge on the grounds that while Herb’s language “may be considered by some to be offensive, vulgar and imprudent”, it is “protected speech pursuant to the First Amendment”.

It’s a disgrace that it even got to the point where a judge had to make that ruling.

Quote of the Day

Just as the President said, he would have, he would have signed [the assault weapons ban] if it came to his desk, and so would have I.- Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney on Meet the Press 12/16/2007

I will not vote for Mitt Romney under any circumstance. If the choice is between Mitt and Hillary, I stay home. We must defeat Mitt in the Primary. It’s an imperative. Scroll down on this post to the part titled “On Gun Control.” Mitt was singing a different tune in October. I’m guessing these latest shootings have made him think that it’s better for him to support a new assault weapons ban.

Folks, this guy has to be stopped. He’s truly a weasel and no friend of honest gun owners. He will turn on us in a minute if the polls tell him he should. I urge everyone to get behind a real friend like Fred Thompson or Ron Paul.

UPDATE: He’s also bragging about an NRA endorsement he never received.

UPDATE: Bruce has more.

Our View: The Law Means Something

It looks like the Chambersburg Public Opinion believes that guns and polling places don’t mix. While I don’t find their argument to be entirely unreasonable, the Pennsylvania Legislature could have chosen to make polling places off limits for carrying firearms if they were concerned enough about this issue. The fact that is, that the legislature chose not to do so.

The incident with Mr. Rotz is not really about public policy, it’s what the law is, and whether or not Sheriff Wollyung was within his authority to revoke this man’s license to carry a firearm. I don’t believe the sheriff was, as Mr. Rotz was not doing anything unlawful at the time, and asserted his legal right to be armed at the polling place. If Sheriff Wollyung does not like the idea of a man carrying in a polling place, he’s free to lobby the legislature to forbid the practice. Abusing his authority by making and example out of one man, and revoking his right to be armed without just cause, was not the proper or just course of action to take.