May 2010 – Page 12 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Roll the Dice!

Dave Hardy points out that Elena Kagan, Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Stevens, doesn’t have much in the way of distinction. I think given this President, a blank slate might be the best we could ask for. We’ll see what comes out in the confirmation hearings, but if we don’t dig up anything damning, I’d say lets roll the dice.

My guess is Obama is picking a nominee without much of a record in an attempt to avoid a nasty confirmation fight leading into the election. The advantage to picking a Justice who has not much of a prior record is there isn’t as much for opponents to attack. The disadvantage is, for Obama, he can’t be as sure she’ll stay solidly liberal. I would suspect she will, and would be surprised if she turned conservative, but let’s not forget that Justice Souter was another such blank slate, and look how that turned out for the GOP.

We’re Winning

An article in the Boston Herald speaking positively about machine gun ownership.

Still Largely a Philly Issue

CeaseFire PA is happy to have more candidates this year return theirÂ questionnaireÂ than in previous years:

Overall, the large number of General Assembly candidates responding to the questionnaire represents a significant increase over the number who responded to a similar survey from CeaseFirePA in 2008 â€“ yet another indication that increasingly, candidates for elections in Pennsylvania are aware of the growing groundswell by voters for candidates who support more rational policies on gun violence prevention issues.

This could be anÂ indicationÂ the issue is building momentum from the other side. But I noticed their non-endorsement endorsements, at the bottom of their press release, show that this issue is still very much a Philadelphia thing. What should be of concern to us is the issue penetrating into the suburban collar counties that ring Philadelphia. Especially Montgomery County, which is becoming particularly problematic for our issue. Â Also of concern is some penetration into Chester County, some into Delaware and Bucks.

The danger here is, if we lose the suburbs on this issue, we lose the state. The rest of Pennsylvania can outvote Philadelphia, but it can’t outvote Philadelphia if its suburbs vote with the city.

Philadelphia Democrats on Guns

As you can imagine, it’s not good. These are the Democratic candidates for Governor, including our current Governor, who I think has convinced the Democratic panel that being in favor of gun control in Pennsylvania doesn’t hurt you.

Bitter is getting pretty good at using iMovie to splice together someÂ propagandaÂ of our own:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Y04Yc2g60[/youtube]

Governor Wary of Open Carry Bill

It looks like Governor Brad Henry of Oklahoma is having second thoughts about the open carry bill there. Will he sign? The big problem for him would seem to be opposition from the Oklahoma State Troopers Association. Keep in mind this is coming from a state where gun rights generally are not really controversial.

Grenades!

You know those insert grenades you sometimes see at militaria collector tables at gun shows? Well, it looks like the Chicago politicians are willing to pay handsomely for them:

In announcing the early results and encouraging others to take part in the day-long event,Â Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis announced that 1,335 guns were turned in during the first half hour, including what looked like two hand grenades.

“What are we doing with hand grenades inÂ Chicago?” Weis asked, incredulous.

Bomb and arson investigators determined the two real-looking grenades were inert, said Officer Daniel O’Brien of Police News Affairs. “They’re not capable of exploding,” O’Brien said.

I’m pretty sure the profit margin was pretty hefty on those. Something to keep in mind next time there’s a buyback.

Gun Crime in New Jersey

Cemetery reviews a gun control special put together by News 12 on Long Island. I could tell his expectations where very high when he said of the Mayor of Newark, “Bonus points for Cory Booker for not looking like a fat drunken slob.” That would be an allusion to the mayor of his city, who is.

It’s Wyatt Palooza Day!

Today is the Philly blog meet known as Wyatt Palooza, which will naturally mean several fruity drinks at Cheeseburger in Paradise. I’m not really much of a fruity drink person, but I will at least have aÂ MojitoÂ in the spirit of the place. When it comes to drinks, I tend to like ones with more booze than sugar. The Mojito, done right, is a good drink. It’s hard to find a place that doesn’t under booze and over sugar, however.

MargaritasÂ done properly, using Cointreau rather than Triple Sec, are also an entirely acceptable drink for spring and summer. Done right means not frozen. A goodÂ margaritaÂ has too much booze in it to freeze properly. Last weekend Bitter and I made mint juleps, which I also find to be an entirely acceptable and thoroughly alcoholic drink, despite the presence of sugar. Appletinis, or various other martini drinks made with sugar or frozen are blasphemous, and not martinis. You can’t take a chick drink, put it in an martini glass, and call it a martini. A proper martini is a liquor drink with only gin and vermouth. The only acceptable fruit in a martini is a lemon peel. Vodka is also acceptable if you don’t like gin. I’m neutral on the matter of olives vs. lemon peels.

Now that I’ve had my rant about fruity drinks vs. proper drinks, it is time to go prepare for the Palooza!

UPDATE: And who could forget this classic, thinking about Cheeseburger in Paradise:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GW22sAElpE[/youtube]

Congratulations are in Order

As SayUncle pointed out yesterday, the Memphis Commercial Appeal had their panties in a bunch because the NRA lobbyist for Tennessee was actually, you know, lobbying. Now they give us some idea why they were so upset: she flipped the votes of 9 lawmakers. Great work Heidi!

Lawmakers wanted to float a 51% type bill. Those of you from Texas know what this is, because Texas is a 51% state when it comes to establishments that serve alcohol. What that means is if the establishment derives more than 51% of its revenue from alcohol, you can’t carry there. Most states that adopt this have posting requirements, so you’re not required to go get e financial statement before entering a restaurant, but I’m not aware whether the proposed Amendment that Heidi defeated contained a signage requirement. The obvious problem with this is there are pubs that do serve food that nonetheless are defined as “bars” because they don’t sell enough of it. The bill Heidi helped pass basically doesn’t mess with what is a bar and what isn’t, and just allows carry provided you’re not drinking.

Tennessee passed a restaurant carry law last year, but it was vague, since it allowed carry in restaurants, but not in bars, even though Tennessee had no statutory definition of a bar.

Lead Issue Being Addressed in PA

There’s a bill being floated in Harrisburg that’s meant to address Philipsburg Gun Club’s ongoing dispute with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. I’ve heard from some activists in the state that have issues with the bill, and I have to join in some concern. If you read the text, it creates a state level task force Â to investigate the issue. The politicians who have introduced this bill do not concern me. Senators Wozniak, Pippy, White, Eichelberger and Stout are all A-rated, so I think this represents a genuine effort to try to deal with this dispute.

What concerns me is that the shooter’s voice in this debate will be represented by the American Trapshooters Association and the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. I have no issues with ATA’s presence on the task force, and think they bring a welcome voice. I do have some concerns with PFSC’s presence on the task force, as opposed to, say, NRA’s. Since Melody Zullinger left, PFSC has fallen on hard times, and they no longer seem to be active within the community. I’m very concerned about putting an issue this important in their hands.

Other than that, I think this bill does a number of good things. It prevents state agencies from closing down shooting at ranges without going through the PA Game Commission first, and even then only under a standard of, “becauseÂ of scientific proof that the action is necessary to avoidÂ environmental degradation which is beyond remediation.” It also puts the PA Game Commission, and not the DCNR, in charge of promulgating regulations for the management of lead at shooting ranges.