Bitter – Page 102 – Shall Not Be Questioned

An Opportunity

This was the final question from the CNN/Tea Party Express debate:

BLITZER: Eight Republican presidential candidates on the stage.

You know, Americans are looking at you. They also want to know a little bit more about you.

I’m going to start with Senator Santorum. I want to go down and get your thoughts on something you would bring to the White House if you were the next president of the United States.

An example, President George H. W. Bush put in a horseshoe pit. President Clinton put in a jogging track. President Obama added a vegetable garden.

Here are the responses:

Santorum – More beds.
Gingrich – Get rid of czars, my wife’s music, something ballet-related, and a giant chess set.
Paul – He’d teach economics classes. And give boring as hell answers to personality-driven questions.
Perry – A First Lady whose husband knows how to kiss ass.
Romney- Bust of Winston Churchill.
Bachmann – Things that make the Tea Party people cheer.
Cain – “I would bring a sense of humor to the White House, because America’s too uptight.”
Huntsman – Harley-Davidson and motocross bike.

Wouldn’t it have been great if one of them had named a gun? Hell, I wouldn’t care if they said a shotgun or hunting rifle. I still would have gone nuts over a broad answer like more hunting gear. Or even something like freshly harvested venison, for the White House Chef to cook up more often. I wouldn’t expect something like more great targets to display on the walls, but with Gov. Perry in the debate, it wouldn’t be out of the question.

I don’t expect any hardcore gun nut answers from a presidential campaign, but some nod to at least one of our sports and our overall community values would be nice.

The Mystery of GOP Debates

First, there was the debate sponsored by MSNBC. I’m not sure what Republicans were thinking, “This is a brilliant idea! Hosted by a network that hates us and with a liberal audience who won’t be voting in Republican primaries!”

Next, there was last night. I think the timing of the debate is best summed up by Jim Geraghty in today’s Morning Jolt:

Well, sure, it was up against the season premiere of Monday Night Football, but at least the early primary states were tuned in. Wait, the New England Patriots were playing, so every football fan in New Hampshire was watching ESPN. Okay, but the debate was taking place in Florida, so at least the Florida Republicans, er, wait, no, the Patriots were playing Miami. Hey, Tea Party Express, what other debate dates were you contemplating? Halloween? Thanksgiving night? Christmas?

And that doesn’t even get into the actual debate itself, most of which we caught.

There was the 30-year-old man debacle in which Ron Paul was asked if a fit, young guy carried no health insurance at all and then got into a bad accident, what should happen to him? No real answer came out, so he was asked outright if the guy should be left to die. And, of course, a brilliant Ronulian decided to scream out that he should, which became the answer everyone focused on for the evening. Stay classy, Paul supporter. You just made your candidate look like a bigger douche. Then, Paul finally said that churches bailed sick people out when he used to practice shortly after the Stone Age. Somehow, I don’t think putting the cost of healthcare on the backs on non-profits is the world’s best plan. Bachmann was then asked to tackle the 30-year-old question and the non-answer turned into screaming about Obamacare. Apparently, no one in the GOP presidential pool can say, “Send him the bill for his care.”

But the really bizarre turn happened when the issue of giving the HPV vaccine that can prevent a form of cancer in women was more controversial than Romney’s version of Obamacare. Bachmann was on a roll with a Jenny McCarthy-type rant against the vaccine, and I’ve seen more than a fair share of social conservatives on Twitter express discomfort with the extremes in her behavior on stage when it came to the HPV issue. Hello? Tea Party audience members who were wildly cheering her on, if you’re so anti-vaccine, why stay calm & let the Romneycare go with a pass? It seemed like the audience’s priorities were a bit out-of-whack.

I just hope that all of this extra coverage & the new opportunities for Republicans to spread the crazy doesn’t result in alienating independents for the eventual nominee.

Labor Day – Celebrate Unions or Else….

It seems that the Left in Pennsylvania has decided that no one is allowed to discuss anything on Labor Day that doesn’t celebrate unions or involve planning for an outright class war on Republicans & the upper classes. This came out in force yesterday when Congressman Charlie Dent posted about his opportunity to meet with a local Marine who came home from Afghanistan and the Congressman was attacked for celebrating his safe return. (Click the image to enlarge.)

My first thought, “Why is Joe Hackett hating on our military?” Of course, it’s another Tim Daly. One that you might assume is a hardworking blue collar union guy based on his rhetoric. You’d be oh-so-wrong.

Tim Daly owns an advertising firm and lives in Yardley, Pennsylvania, a town with a median family income of more than $103,000 and homes with a median price of about $333,000 as of 2009. Yardley is a nice little place, so good for Tim Daly for getting his graduate degree and settling in a comfortable, fairly wealthy suburb of Philadelphia. In addition to not being an oppressed union worker, Daly is also decidedly not a constituent of Congressman Dent. (I’m not a constituent. I just follow him to see what he’s saying on issues I care about, not to pick fights about whether we are allowed to honor members of the military.)

Oh, but it gets better. Mr. Daly has some interesting allies that come to back up his attacks on the Congressman for honoring those who serve our country.

Wow. All of this hate just because Congressman Dent thought it would be great to celebrate with a local service member. But, Mr. Millar’s rants are apparently familiar to those in the Reading area.

According to The Pennsylvania Progressive, Millar, a self-proclaimed Marxist, has a reputation for using “irrational, intellectually dishonest logic” and was described this way in a debate last year:

He makes these leaps of logic with no foundation and impugns the character of others with no basis in fact. He then further impugned his own character by constantly interrupting Brown violating the rules of the debate and calling him a liar.

It shouldn’t be any surprise. According to the reviews on Rate My Professor, his students report that he regularly holds it against them in their grades if one disagrees with him and he spends his class time ranting about politics instead of teaching. One of the more positive recent reviews that says he is “average” notes that he will “inspire you to think like a communist.”

It’s absolutely disturbing that these people take pride in announcing that military members who put their lives on the line are not worth even acknowledging on a day they perceive to be about celebrating the downfall of the “upper class.” As Wyatt said on Twitter last night: “This Labor Day, remember those who don’t get the day off: our armed forces, police officers, and firefighters.”

Demonizing Glocks

A county Republican group in Arizona is raffling off a gun to raise money for Get Out The Vote efforts, and HuffPo is sounding the alarm!

For just $10, readers can purchase a raffle ticket (out of 125 offered) for a chance to win a brand new handgun. Not just any handgun, but a Glock 23

Arizona Republicans surely know just how effective this particular brand of gun can be. After all, it was only eight months ago that Jared Lee Loughner used a Glock 19 in Tucson – the seat of Pima County – to shoot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the head.

That’s two different models that just happen be made by the same manufacturer. They aren’t even the same caliber. And, yes, the article even ends on a nice hysterical note about how the three 12-rounds magazines that come with the raffle prize will allow the winner to shoot even more people than Loughner.

For PA & NJ folks, you can win the Glock of your choice at the Friends of NRA dinner on Sept. 15. If readers buy a ticket, make sure to notify the person following up on meal choice that you’d like to sit with other blog folks, and we will make sure that there are enough reserved seats. Odds on many of the guns will be 1 in 50, maybe even better. If you want a Gold or Silver package, the odds on winning the Kimber Stainless Pro Carry II in that limited raffle are REALLY good right now – and your package is mostly tax-deductible.

Those in Arizona who want a raffle ticket to win the Glock 23 can get the details in the GOP newsletter.

Official Oppression Charge Spotted in the Wild

It’s rare you actually see a prosecutor bring the charge of Official Oppression, but they have done it Philly. The offense? A police officer who was flagged down by a woman picked her up and raped her in the back of his cruiser. Other charges stemming from the incident include 5 counts ranging from indecent exposure to rape.

The Hurricane Aftermath is Unexpected

It’s not just the gusty winds we have to deal with as they risk taking down more branches or finally doing in some trees in saturated soil. No, my mom sent us a link as we woke up today with a different kind of after storm risk. Some ass with a gun running around shooting people.

Fortunately, it’s not in our town even though it’s our county. But the guy has been up and down the county, so it’s not exactly a comfort. However, we’re not venturing out due to the previously mentioned gusts that still make the trees a risk and because the basement had to be emptied in advance of near flooding last night, our living room is stocked with guns.

Everyone is a Hurricane Expert Now

Ray Nagin is going on tv to tell people how to prepare for Irene. As long as he’s saying, “Don’t do what I did,” then he’s right!

In other news, Atlantic City casinos are already shutting down in advance of any orders to do so. I think it’s telling that they have to rope off casinos in order to convince people that maybe they shouldn’t be hanging out at the coast when a hurricane is coming.

Illegal & Unethical Mayors United with Bloomberg

An ally of Michael Bloomberg is raising eyebrows about just how political favors are used and abused in his town. Even better, it’s at the expense of public safety.

The police chief and borough manager in Dormont are accusing the mayor of ticket fixing.

It turns out the mayor has dismissed thousands of tickets over the years and now the Allegheny County District Attorney is getting involved.

He’s fixed more than $30,000 worth of tickets – enough to buy a police car. When the police chief was raising this issue, the mayor canned him to shut him up. Other city officials gave him his job back and are asking questions since some supporters of the mayor had as many as 35 tickets fixed in one year. That’s nearly a ticket a week for just one person!

This Mayor Against Guns is Thomas Lloyd of Dormont, Pennsylvania whose smiling mug graces the MAIG website.

Is it any wonder that the allies Bloomberg finds to join his anti-gun crusade are criminals and the corrupt who abuse the legal system to get their supporters out of trouble?

The iPad Revolution

I find it funny that Hurricane Irene is now on Twitter. In fact, she has an iPad. I suspect people who called the iPad a revolution didn’t quite envision it making revolutions in this manner.

Blame the Teachers

I think it’s mildly amusing to watch organizers of the London Olympics try to throw everyone else they possibly can under the bus when it comes to denying school kids tickets to Olympic shooting events. The executives may come from the private sector, but they are doing a very good job at embracing their status as government employees and passing the buck onto everyone else but themselves.

When the ban on allowing schoolkids to get free tickets to the shooting events was announced, they said the anti-gun lobby was to blame for the ban. As part of that excuse, blame also fell on the Mayor Boris Johnson’s anti-gun efforts.

Now that it’s been exposed as outrageously over-the-top insanity, they are deflecting the blame while also overturning the policy. The Olympic organizers are now claiming that the ban on tickets was based on feedback from teachers.

At least the broader Olympic competitive community came together to back the shooters with a defense of the inclusion of shooting from the British Olympic Association.

The British Olympic Association said the shooting competition at the Olympic Games was not only inspirational but sent positive messages of non-violence, respect and friendship.

â€œThe London 2012 Olympic Games is an opportunity for high performance shooting athletes to showcase their skill and talent in a controlled and safe environment,â€ a BOA spokeswoman said.

â€Shooting athletes believe in the Olympic values and can, as role models, pass on the positive message of non-violence, respect and friendship. As such we believe the Ticketshare programme is an excellent opportunity for the future generation of Olympic shooting hopefuls to be inspired by todayâ€™s Olympians.â€

Of course, the London organizers are probably going to keep trying to shift the blame instead of just admitting they made a stupid decision since they aren’t getting the best attention at the moment. One of their organization volunteers who went through an application process, interview, and training session was arrested as a lead rioter recently. She threw bricks at a police car and was the first to throw bricks through the windows of a Vodafone store and declared that it was “the best day ever.” Yet, the group that recruited her wants to blame Olympic shooters for violence?