Apparently it involves not scaring the band. Seriously, go see the video. Mexican gun laws are supposedly vastly superior to our own, but I don’t know of any wedding in the United States where the band would keep playing if gunplay breaks out on the dance floor. Pretty clearly the band is used to this kind of thing.
Month: February 2009
Philadelphia Loses Another Police Officer
Story here. The suspect is still on life support, and will hopefully help save the taxpayers some money and trouble. It’s going to get worse in that city, since the Mayor’s response to the budget crisis is to slash the police force.
In my continued tradition of posting the rap sheets of high profile killers in the City of Brother Love, our suspect in this case is Rasheed Scrugs. His rap sheet can be found here. As usual, this cop killer has a long history of trouble with the criminal justice system that never were properly prosecuted.
I Share PDB’s Confusion
PDB is confused that Obama’s next move is the budget deficit. He’s concerned about deficits. Apparently it’s going to hit 2 trillion this year, and that worries him. You know, there’s a bill on your desk, Barry, that if you veto would get you halfway there.
Toomey is Out
Pat Toomey says he won’t run against Specter in the GOP primary, so who will run against him? Toomey almost unseated Specter in the 2004 primary, but fell short because Bush and Santorum pulled Specter’s candidacy out of the fire because it was believed Toomey would not defeat Joe Hoeffel.
If historical trends hold, 2010 should be a good year for the GOP. I feel more comfortable knee capping specter in 2010 than I did in 2004, and I still would have preferred to do it in 2006. But who is going to run? I’m looking for a horse to bet on.
UPDATE: A reader pointed out it was the 2004 election.
This is the GOP I Knew
Boehner does a good bit of political theater over the stimulus:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvnwOjDjnH4[/youtube]
The thud as it hits the floor is a nice touch. Now if only they would actually do this stuff when they are in power.
Letter to Senator Specter
I can’t tell you how angry I am at this stimulus passing, and the double cross from Arlen Specter was just the icing on the cake. He’ll be hard pressed for getting me to vote for him. Like, he better vote against an assault weapons ban or something. I will definitely support any primary challenger against Specter.
Dear Senator Specter,
I have been a long time supporter of yours since I started voting at eighteen years of age. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that you broke with your fellow Republicans and voted for this wasteful, and pork laden “stimulus” bill, that is basically a decades old wish list of Democratic Party spending that will do little to help fix our economic situation.
I can not stomach the thought of passing off a bill this large to future generations, when our government was already too much in debt. I have to admit, I will have a difficult time justifying supporting you in 2010. If I’m going to vote for a Senator who votes like a Democrat, I might as well just vote for a Democrat. At least I’ll know what to expect.
Sincerely,
[Someone Who’s Voted For You But Never Enjoyed It]
Specter is the poster boy for lesser of two evils, and he’s consistently been. The Democrats tend to run far left candidates against him, because he does well among moderate Democrats. If polling is to be believed, Democrats like him better than Republicans. That’s hardly surprising. He’s consistently won my vote by being less stomach turning than the other guy. I’d say he’s not going to do it again, but if I had a dime for every time I’ve sworn off voting for Arlen Specter I’d be a rich man.
Letter to Kirsten Gillibrand
The following will be sent to Kirsten Gillibrand’s Senate office. It doesn’t look like they have e-mail set up just yet:
The Honorable Kirsten Gillibrand
531 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 2051Dear Senator Gillibrand,
While I am not a constituent of yours, I am am a pro-Second Amendment activist and volunteer here in Pennsylvania. Because of your record in support of the Second Amendment, I have donated to your campaign and, through my networks, have encouraged others to donate as well.
I was disappointed to see in an interview with News 4 New York that you may have indicated you are softening your support for measures that we consider to be vital for strengthening the Second Amendment, namely the ATF Reform bill that was introduced in the 110th Congress and which you co-sponsored in the House.
I understand that you are under a tremendous amount of pressure right now, both from your own party, from the downstate New York media, to abandon your support for the Second Amendment. While I understand the difficulty this causes for you, consider the difficulty for activists, such as myself, who have publicly asked hunters and shooters to get behind your candidacy in 2010. I sincerely hope that when push comes to shove, you will stand with us and oppose new gun control measures in the Senate.
Sincerely,
[Someone You’ll Never Get a Dime From Again If You Double Cross Me.]
OK, so I signed my real name instead, but that’s basically the point. Remember the influence heirarchy. If you are a constituent of hers, send a letter now. Especially if you donated, send a letter, and be sure you mention that. Even if you’re not a constituent, or didn’t donate, send her something promising you’ll do whatever you can to support her re-election if she votes with us.
The other side is twisting the hell out of her left arm. We must twist her right. The basic message needs to be that we know you supported us in the past, and we hope and expect you will continue to do so. She needs to understand there will be rewards for support, namely in money and vote delivery.
Gillibrand on HR4900
Kirsten Gillibrand gave an interview with New York News 4 where she seemed to back off the provisions of HR4900 that would make the Tiahrt Amendment a matter of law, rather than a matter of having to repass a spending provision each year refusing ATF funding to release trace data except for law enforcement investigations.
I saw the video interview, and it’s pretty heavily edited, which makes me wonder what the full context was of what she said. Bloomberg is also speaking of productive meetings with her, but he will say that because it’s smart politics for him in terms of twisting her arm. I should note that HR4900 is dead letter, because it was a bill in the 110th Congress. Such a bill might be introduced in the 111th Congress, but chances of the bill going anywhere are slim.
I’ve never seen such arm twisting of a politician as the New York media and political establishment are doing to Gillibrand over the gun issue. We’re now seeing why New York puts F rated politicians into office. I’m hoping against hope that Gillibrand will dodge, triangulate, and say what she has to say to get the New York Media and Bloomberg off her back, but will vote with us on the really important things.  I would not be surprised if Gillibrand decides to surrender her A, and stakes out a middle ground. Politically, she might have to. If she drops to a B or even C rated politician, occupying the seat once occupied by Hillary Clinton, I still say it wasn’t a bad trade. Given the chance, I’d say the same thing for Schumer’s seat. This is New York.
Corruption in Eastern Pennsylvania
We should absolutely not tolerate crap like this. Kudos to the New York Times (you won’t hear me say that too often) for investigating this crap. Let’s just hope the Obama Administration doesn’t ratchet down prosecution of corrupt officials.
Dave Hardy is Back
We’re happy to hear David Hardy is finished with his jury trial and will soon be back to blogging more regularly. For those of you paying attention to the media, this was the trial he was defense attorney for. Federal civil rights lawsuit against a rancher who turns illegals over to border patrol. We will hope for a positive outcome with the jury.
UPDATE: I suppose I should clarify that Dave was representing the rancher.