Category: Civil Liberties

Regulating how much you can drink would be ridiculous even for California or New Jersey.  The fact that this is happening in the Live Free or Die State is a travesty.

I don’t honestly know why more people aren’t outraged by this stuff.  I think a good part of it is that the media doesn’t really act like they care.  You don’t have anyone out there building elite opinion against no-knock raids, because they happen to other people.

I’m glad to see Obama taking some steps in regards to civil liberties, if he wants to help out his fellow Americans, particularly African-Americans, who I’m going to bet are disproportionately the victims of these police state tactics, he can raise some awareness for us.

Ilya Somin has a great citicism of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over at Volokh.  From my point of view, one of it’s major deficiencies is a lack of recognition of a natural right of self-defense, and the legal right to aquire, possess, and train with the means to defend yourself.  But I suppose that could end up being “exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”  You know, like these purposes.  Can’t have that.

Looks like the Pennsylvania cell phone ban bill is back:

Democratic state Rep. Josh Shapiro plans to reintroduce his bill to outlaw handheld phones while driving.

For Josh Shapiro, the numbers tell the story.

Last year, according to the state police, there were 1,245 accidents on Pennsylvania’s roadways where a driver was talking on a handheld cell phone, compared to 56 accidents with a driver using a hands-free device.

In 2006, the totals were eerily similar: 1,241 crashes with handheld phones; 60 with hands-free.

Shapiro, a Democratic state representative from the 153rd District, which includes most of Abington and part of Upper Dublin, wants to make it illegal to drive while talking on a handheld cell phone.

Just to give reader some sense of scale here, there were 6,657 crashes involving heavy trucks in Pennsylvania in 2006, 4,763 accidents involving pedestrians and 3,889 motorcycle accidents.  Even bicycle accidents are higher.  On the scale of vehicular dangers Pennsylvanians face, this is a small one.  We have accepted in Pennsylvania that motorcyclist deserve to have the freedom to choose not to wear a helmet, even though this is shown to make our highways more dangerous.  I think people should have to freedom to responsible use a cell phone while driving.  Distracted and careless driving is already a crime in most states.  At the very most, cell phone use while driving should be a secondary offense.

This is a sad spectacle, but this is the rabbit hole folks in the gun control movement will take us down, when none of their prescriptions for our ills work.

I agree with Bucks Right, this should have been done a year ago.  My guess is McCain would have thrown a temper tantrum, though.

Check out the video at Bucks Right, of a guy in Philadelphia getting cuffed and hauled off because he wore a McCain shirt outside of an Obama rally.  I always disclaim that these things don’t often present a clear picture, and it could be something happened that offered the officers justification to arrest that we didn’t see.  But this appears to be something to look into at first glance.

Looks like the courts and lawyers will be busy for years trying to sort this one out.