Politics – Page 376 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Huckabee Surge

I’m pretty ho-hum about Mike Huckabee surging forward in the GOP primary.Â Marshall Manson talks about his feelings on Governor Huckabee, which echo a lot of my own.Â Here’s what he says in the article about Fred Thompson:

Like many conservatives, I had high hopes for Senator Thompson. Unfortunately, his campaign just hasnâ€™t taken off. Thatâ€™s in spite of the fact that he has presented some of the best policy proposals of any candidate in the race. I confess that I havenâ€™t heard the Senator in person. But the collapse in support for his candidacy in Iowa and New Hampshire suggest that he hasnâ€™t been particularly effective in communicating his message, either in person or through media. I was also disappointed in Thompsonâ€™s late summer staff purge, where he eliminated many of the minds behind innovative campaign that he seemed to be developing last spring. Instead, heâ€™s embraced a fairly traditional campaign, but given his late start, he needed to do more, and his campaign now looks to be in trouble. I would be glad if Thompson recovered and made himself a factor for the nomination, but Iâ€™m not especially hopeful.

I’m pretty much feeling the same way.Â My understanding is that Fred is free falling in the polls, which is sorely disappointing.Â Except for a few areas, Thompson is about as good a candidate as I could hope for from the Republicans.

With Fred fizzling, and the Democratic primary increasingly looking like a race between Obama and Hillary, my registration as an independent is looking like it will stay in place for yet another primary cycle.Â Â I’m still waiting, Republicans and Democrats, for someone worth voting for.

Gentlemen, don’t let the door …

… hit you in the ass on the way out.

Members of the state House’s Legislative Black Caucus walked off the House floor this afternoon demanding votes on stalled gun-control bills.

The protest threatened to bring business in the chamber to a standstill because the 25-member caucus is a significant voting block, and could stand in the way of reaching the 102 votes need to approve legislation. The House has 203 members.

“There’s no more blind loyalty to anyone,” said Rep. Thomas Blackwell, D-Philadelphia, in an interview. “You have to respect us.”

Respect is a two way street, Representative Blackwell.Â We demand respect for the rights protected by the constitution of this country and this commonwealth.Â This is not a Pennsylvania problem, this is a Philadelphia problem. Â When you’re ready to face up to the problems in Philadelphia, and talk about serious solutions, like putting more police officers on the streets, and making sure cretins like this don’t see the light of day, I’m willing to lobby my representatives for fiscal and legislative help.Â Continue to impose gun control on me, and you’re not respecting me, so why should I respect you?

Leviathan Strikes Again: Part II

Our attorney general is suing RJ Reynolds tobacco because he thinks they are pimping cigarettes to kids again. Corbett is filing suit because he believes it violates the ~~shakedown racket~~ settlement agreement the tobacco industry signed with the states to not use cartoons to market cigarettes.

I think anyone who looks at this ad, considers the magazine they were placed in, and concludes that clearly this ad was meant to appeal to children ought to stick their heads in their Cuisinart and hit “pulse”, because it seems pretty clear your brain are already pretty much puree.

To be sure, this is meant to target young adults. But last I checked, the legal age to buy cigarettes was eighteen, and I would imagine this ought to mean that it’s legal to market to this age group. It’s a damned shame that smoking is actually pretty bad for you, because I’d almost consider taking up the habit just because it upsets the right kind of people. We’re not supposed to smoke. Our betters have deemed it so.

UPDATE: Well, at least this year Rendell won’t get his smoking ban:

Raela Stabile works the day shift at Molly Brannigans in Harrisburg for one reason: she despises cigarette smoke.

“It’s not half as much smoke [as the night], so I can handle it,” the nonsmoker said in the pub’s smoking section. “I hate cigarette smoke.”

She looks forward to the day when a proposed indoor smoking ban becomes the law of the land, and hopes it will include bars and restaurants.

Hey Raela, no one is forcing you to work in a pub.Â I don’t particularly like dealing with people, which is why a job in tech support isn’t something for me.Â I choose my career according to my preferences, not try to get the state to pass a law saying everyone should be nice to tech support people.

Ramsey Struck By Blindingly Obvious

Philadelphia’s new police chief, who’s former career involved running the Washington Metro Police force, is at least aware of the blindingly obvious:

“Declaring a state of emergency is fine with me,” Ramsey, the former Washington police chief, said in an interview Friday. “Crime is at an unacceptable level. . . . It’s certainly something we have to get a handle on real quick.”

How Ramsey will carry out the emergency response is less certain. He spent much of last week getting his bearings in his new city – meeting with Johnson and the department’s command staff as well as attending several district roll calls to introduce himself to the rank and file.

So his first act will be to declare a crime emergency.Â That’s leadership!Â This already is looking like a farce to me.

Primary Endorsements

Bitter has the details.Â Â I still think it would be a mistake for NRA to become involved in the Republican primary, but they may just be dangling the carrot.Â This kind of press coverage certainly isn’t bad.

The Swing Voter

This article is just more proof that independent voters are a canvas onto which people paint their own political aspirations:

But thereâ€™s a new factor: unalignment. The American electorate is divided into thirds: Democratic, Republican, and unaligned independents. For this the thid r group, which is heavily white, affluent, suburban and secular, voting Republican is seldom cool or acceptable.

Hardcore Democrats disdain Republicans as macho, war-like, tight-fisted, mean-spirited, intolerant, bigoted and dictatorial. Thatâ€™s expected. Hardcore Republicans deride Democrats as squishy-soft on national defense and terrorist issues, and obsessed with creating a Utopia on earth. Thatâ€™s expected.

Whatâ€™s unexpected is that independents, driven by the â€œpolitics of culture,â€ have turned strongly against the Republicans. For them, issues like abortion rights, gun control, gay rights, immigration reform resonate, and to them, Republicans are on the wrong side. In their estimation, traditional Republican issuesâ€”tax cuts, spending slashes and reduced governmentâ€”have utterly no appeal. They look up government as now good.

So basically, the independent unaligned voters are really just Democrats.Â I don’t think it’s that simple.Â I don’t pretend that all independents are libertarians, only some of them are, or that they are more socially conservative progressives, some of them are, and I definitely don’t think they are all pretty much Democrats or Republicans who don’t know how to fill out a voter registration.

For various reasons, I think independent voters feel the parties don’t represent their positions, so they stay out of the process.Â I certainly feel that way most of the times.

Quote of the Day

“[Gun control] is an issue that, again, doesn’t break down under normal party lines, and if we’re going to win this we have to build a coalition, and that coalition in my judgment should include every southeastern Republican and Democrat. There’s no excuse for anybody from the southeast not voting to support common sense gun legislation” – Governor Rendell, 12/03/2007

Within several miles of my house are at least four gun shops.Â Literally right around the block there is one. Â When you think about how many shooters a single gun shop can service, that gives you an idea of how many gun owners there are in this area.

My shooting club, which is 10 miles up the road in the next Township has 1100 members, and we’re at our limit.Â There’s a waiting list to join.Â If you went to apply today you’d be turned away.

Chester County issues approximately 11,000 LTCs, Montgomery County issues about 19,000, My county (Bucks) issues about 24,000.Â Delaware County issues about 12,000. Â That totals 66,000 licenses issued in the Philadelphia Suburbs.Â The city itself issues 32,000. Â License holders are typically the most active in the gun rights community, and 100,000 region wide is nothing to sneeze at.

Ed Rendell seems to be operating under the mistaken impression that no one in the suburbs cares about the second amendment.Â I think he’s wrong, and come election day, we may have to single out a few vulnerable members of his little “coalition” and demonstrate that.

Leviathan Strikes Again

It seems to me the Pennsylvania legislature should just get rid of this whopper of a stupid law.

An old state law is coming back to haunt a few of the residents of Pennsylvania: If you sell the belongings of another person, you are required to have an auctioneer’s license. The state issues them as part of a monumentally exhaustive process that can take months and possibly require a formal apprenticeship.

Sounds like a trade group pushed for that licensing to artificially constrain supply in the market for selling other people’s crap, and now are pushing to have that monopoly enforced.Â There is no just reason why selling other people’s stuff should require a license from the state.Â The free market can sort that one out, and our politicians should allow it to.

The Pushback Begins

Pennsylvania Democrats, particularly Western Democrats, are pushing the house leadership to drop the gun control issue.Â They know it’s going to hurt them if gun control becomes a big issue, and Democrats are seen as the ones pushing it.

Kotik says the Democrat-controlled House should be focusing on issues such as property tax reform and health care. Kotik says he and the other members who signed the letter should not be asked to put up votes on social issues he believes are likely to go nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate.

He’s absolutely right.Â It makes no sense for Democrats to address an issue like gun control when there’s no chance of passage.Â Ed Rendell has a lot to learn about the state he governs.

MADD Gone Mad

MADD is not just a group out to stop drunk driving, it is the latest incarnation of the temperance movement, that’s gone way beyond it’s original mission.Â Â Look here:

Also, as of Saturday, people can lose their driver’s licenses for providing alcohol to anyone under 21. The penalty is important because many underage drinkers get alcohol from friends or family members, said Craig Lloyd, the executive director of the North Carolina chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The law means that, theoretically, parents could be punished for giving a glass of wine to their 20-year-old son or daughter, even if the 20-year-old never gets behind the wheel.

Lloyd said that’s not excessive.

“It’s a zero-tolerance policy,” he said. “Breaking the law is breaking the law.”

It’s busy body meddling in something the state has no business meddling in.Â I make it no secret that I believe denying 18-21 year olds the choice, as adults who are free to make choices, the freedom to imbibe alcoholic beverages is unjust.Â I’ve always believed if you’re old enough to die for your country, you’re old enough to buy a beer.Â I definitely don’t think the state should further criminalize a father who wants to share a beer with his 20 year old son.Â Lower the drinking age to eighteen, and I may have fewer problems with this, but as it stands now, MADD can go to hell.