Bitter – Page 117 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Things I Learned in DC

We spent the weekend in DC, and I learned a few things that I thought you might be interested in knowing. You know all that eliminationist rhetoric many on the left are condemning? Well, their first stop should be the Smithsonian. Protest loudly, my friends.

I also noted some interesting observations about pro-life activists who were in town for the March for Life. I have a few messages for them: 1) Your teenagers are slightly less annoying than other teens. Your teens are also reasonably polite. 2) Parents, on the other hand, are rude. If you’re going to act like a snotty brat, don’t wear your cause on your t-shirt unless you want people to hate you. 3) Your bus drivers should stop trying to kill pedestrians if you’re really pro-life.

Nuns break traffic laws. But they smile a lot, so it makes it kinda okay. Because when else will you see nuns running and laughing across the streets of DC.

I don’t know if the Smithsonian is trying to be ironic or send a message about energy consumption, but a large chunk of the lights were burned out in the “Lighting a Revolution” exhibit.

Lamenting the Loss of Attention

It seems some groups are a little disheartened that the bigger media outlets haven’t picked up on gun control as a contributing factor in the Arizona shootings as much as they think it should:

And even though the central event in question was a grisly shooting, the media spent significantly less time on the gun control debate. During the same week, gun control factored into just 5 percent of Tucson coverage, a total that represents one-fifth of the time devoted to the political rhetoric debate.

Granted, I don’t agree with blaming political rhetoric or gun laws in this case. While I normally don’t fall into the “where the hell were the parents” group, I really have been asking that question in this situation. While they obviously didn’t pull the trigger, it does appear from many accounts that they willfully ignored many signs that their son was in need of serious help and was considered by outsiders to be a danger to himself and to others.

Also interesting to note: Only 12% of the coverage was labeled as “straight news account.”

Something is Off Today

It’s just not right if I find myself agreeing with Mayor Mike. But I do so from a completely different position, so I guess that’s okay. Bloomberg is decidedly not getting on board with the NY Post in their call for the NYPD to boycott Glock in the wake of the Arizona shooting. To his credit, Bloomberg gives a good reason why that’s a bad idea if the paper actually wants to hurt the company:

“One of our newspapers has a campaign going to try to get the police department to ban the use of — one particular manufacturer’s guns,” Bloomberg said. “We think all that would do would be to get people to focus and buy more of that manufacturer’s guns.”

That’s already happening, but it is true that if a known gun control supporter starts using his office to institute some kind of boycott or ban, sales will continue to rise. At least Bloomberg paid attention to the Great Obama Gun Rush.

David Kopel on Tucson in Philly from Colorado

Today, Dave Kopel was featured as a guest on the local NPR affiliate discussing gun control with John Donohue from Stanford. I didn’t see the heads up about the interview until after it started, and then I spent probably 10 minutes trying to figure out how to work our radio and trying to find the NPR station. When I finally noticed the live broadcast online, I did catch the last half of it.

The first bit I heard was from John Donohue essentially arguing the NRA is to blame for shootings, then he ended on some comment about Southerners being easy targets to steal guns from their homes. Offensive on so many levels. Anyway, I just downloaded the piece that end about an hour ago and uploaded it here. I haven’t even listened to the first half yet because I’m still not happy about the portion I heard. (Though, Dave is an amazing man with patience who can still firmly hold our position throughout an interview.) Also, I have bread to check on and lunch to grab. So, enjoy and add your own commentary until I decide to sit down for the whole thing.

Dave Kopel on Philly NPR

UPDATE (By Sebastian): I have to congratulate Dave for getting Donahue to make a long anecdotal argument, then say we shouldn’t make anecdotal arguments when he was confronted with facts.

UPDATE (By Sebastian): Donahue apparently blames Chris Cox for the financial crisis. A shame for him it’s not the same Chris Cox. He doesn’t even have basic facts right.*

The Other Big Weekend News

So Verizon made the iPhone official today. I can’t wait. I don’t plan to upgrade from my first generation Droid since I’m perfectly happy with my phone. However, Sebastian will likely make the switch as soon as possible. He purposefully did not get the iPhone 4 so he wouldn’t be trapped in a 2-year contract with AT&T. Instead, he got an iPad. Now he can upgrade and have a carrier who can, you know, actually handle phone calls.

I’ve been a Verizon customer since my early days of college. I avoid the stores at all costs, but their phone customer service has been nothing but wonderful. They don’t make doing business with them a pain in the butt, and I’m a fan of such simplicity. More importantly, I can make phone calls.* :) Continue reading “The Other Big Weekend News”

Arizona Paper to Sheriff: Do Your Damn Job

At this point, most people are tired of extreme partisans trying to blame the Arizona shootings on talk radio, dissenting opinions, and politicians they don’t like. Why are they tired of it? Because it’s all utter BS at this point. This was a highly disturbed man, and some reports from neighbors who have talked to his parents, they just never noticed he had issues. Which is odd since apparently his father was a stay-at-home dad for decades and the shooter lived at home.

One of the worst offenders in this case is the Pima County Sheriff. And the local press is taking notice:

The world’s eyes, once again, focused on Arizona for the worst of reasons. And Dupnik stood before the cameras interpreting the shootings as politically motivated, despite an increasing weight of evidence depicting the shooting suspect, Jared Loughner, as a mentally ill young man who rambled incoherently about pervasive bad grammar and other apolitical obsessions. Even Dupnik has observed that Loughner had made death threats against others and that they had been investigated by police.

Still, Dupnik used the opportunities to blame Arizona’s lax, new gun laws and, again, the angry “rhetoric” of talk radio. The shootings were spurred, he suggested, by “the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates.”

Dupnik took up his cause again on Monday. And, in response, we have to say at last . . . enough. Enough attacks, sheriff. Enough vitriol. It is well past time for the sheriff of Pima County to get a grip on his emotions and remember his duty. …

Dupnik needs to recall that he is elected to be a lawman. With each additional comment, the Democratic sheriff of Pima County is revealing his agenda as partisan, and, as such, every bit as recklessly antagonistic as the talk-show hosts and politicians he chooses to decry. (Emphasis added.)

Pot, Kettle, I think you two know each other.

The Obvious

Sometimes, it’s just better left unsaid.

A car crashed into a South Jersey bar Thursday morning, leaving one man dead, two others seriously injured — including a man celebrating his birthday — and thousands in the area without power for a few hours. …

Investigators believe alcohol was involved in the crash that left passenger, 33-year-old Kevin Botta of Somers Point, dead.

Really? They only believe that alcohol was involved? What was the first clue? The fact that the driver ran into a building? Or the fact that the building he ran into was a bar?

It just gets weirder.

The crash also sent a fire hydrant flying through the air, hitting 26-year-old Joseph Higbee of Northfield who was standing outside of the bar. He was at the bar to celebrate his birthday.

“The fire hydrant actually went over close to a city block,” said Fire Chief Michael Sweeney.

Just wow. Remember, the car hit a fire hydrant hard enough to send it flying for nearly a block and hit a man. Investigators only believe alcohol may have been involved.

We’re Like California!

How many states have sitting governors with talent agents? Well, add Pennsylvania to that short list.

Arnold had an acting career long before he entered politics, and since he can’t exactly pull a Reagan and run for higher office, it’s safe to assume he will resume that career now that his time is up. One would expect he would maintain a professional agent throughout his gubernatorial sidetrack.

But our governor is known for getting upset at the NFL for canceling a game in unsafe blizzard conditions. Public safety officials and local leaders who would have to deal with all of the traffic accidents be damned!* Oh, and before that his face was plastered across the national tv screens when he said Janet Napolitano was perfect for a cabinet position because she was a spinster. He’s like Joe Biden with a little less stupidity and a lot more Philly asshole. And now, while in office, he’s secured an agent from William Morris.
Continue reading “We’re Like California!”

Opening a New Congress

There are a lot of symbolic moves going on in the halls of Congress these last couple of days. Yesterday, it came in the form of a vote on the Speaker of the House. Nineteen Dems voted against Pelosi, and one decided to go take a walk during the vote. It would have been even more, except the woman still controls Democratic committee assignments and may be out for blood of anyone who opposes her. Fortunately, some of our favorite Blue Dogs were among those voting against her – Pennsylvania’s Jason Altmire and Tim Holden, along with Oklahoma’s Dan Boren. (Other pro-gun Democrats I think worth mentioning are North Carolina’s Heath Shuler and Mike Ross of Arkansas.)

Today, the Democratic Caucus leaders tried to oppose the reading of the Constitution as an opener to the Congressional session. Some of the best reactions to this have come from other people, so I’ll gratuitously steal from them:

@ExJon: “Why do we think liberals hate the Constitution? Their reaction to its public reading is like a vampire facing holy water.”

@JimGeraghty: “Way to go, House Democrats. Your first act of 2011 is to strenuously object to reading aloud the founding document of the nation.”

@ExJon: “I hope C-SPAN has microphones near Pelosi while the Constitution is read. ‘I’m melting! MELLL-TING!'”

The Age of Charles Bronson has Ended

I know more than a few gun owners who loved the novelty of having a carry license from Florida with Charles Bronson‘s name on it. Alas, the era of Charles Bronson giving out gun permits is over. Now, you’ll have Adam Putnam’s name on it.

It may not have the novelty factor, but Florida is lucky to have a guy like Putnam in public service.