The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
I’m glad this guy got off, but that he was ever arrested or prosecuted is an example of just how out of control things really are. You have people murdering each other in the city on a daily basis, but we throw the book at someone exercising their first amendment rights.
Unbelievable.
I agree with the Pocono Record that Pennsylvania’s fireworks laws are flawed. I agree that it makes no sense that we can sell fireworks to residents of New Jersey but not to our own residents. But where The Record and I strongly disagree is that the solution ought to be to ban fireworks sales to resident and non-resident alike.  I think the solution is to allow Pennslvania residents to buy fireworks as well.  It is not the proper role of the state to look out after my own well being.  I am an adult, and (I’d like to think) a free man, and I am capable of doing that for myself.
As I said, I think there are justifiable circumstances (such as a very dry climate or season) for banning fireworks, but we’re not currently experiencing any of that.  And even in such circumstances, the law should only address launching, and not possession or sale.
Given how popular John Street is in the city, Hillary should be reluctant to tout this particular endorsement.
Philadelphia City Council can apparently scrape together some serious money when it comes to protecting themselves:
Visitors to the upper floors of Philadelphia City Hall will soon be required to sign in and wear an identification tag, and possibly be photographed.The new security system goes into use Wednesday. It ends a century of generally unimpeded public access to the building.
The six-point-five (m) million dollar system has been in the planning stages since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.
Visitors won’t have to show identification. A city official says photos will be taken only “when we feel we need that level of security.”
The first floor of the building can still be accessed without going through security.
Sign in, get a photograph taken, and show identification.  This cost a cool 6.5 million? That’s one damned expensive camera! Hell, I’ll take the six point five, and do that service for city hall.  How many police officers would that have hired to patrol the streets, so we could have maybe stopped some real criminals, who I’m sure don’t make a regular habit of showing up to City Hall.
Well, it depends on what kind of choice we’re talking about:
In September of 2006, the city of Philadelphia passed a ban on smoking in all work places, galleries, sports facilities, restaurants and most bars and 20 feet from any building entrance. Establishments that receive over ninety percent of their revenue from drinks are exempt as are private clubs and outdoor cafes, although they must acquire a waver.
Last February, Philadelphia joined New York City in banning trans fat. Restaurants will not be allowed to fry food in trans fat or serve trans fat based spreads. The ban should take place in September and next year will be extended to ban all food with any trans fat prepared in a Philadelphia restaurant.
The city of Philadelphia claims to believe a woman should have “ultimate control…over her own body,†but clearly not so much control that it might extend to a woman smoking a cigarette or eating a basket of fries cooked in trans fat in a privately owned establishment with which she engaged in a voluntary contract for the exchange of goods and services.
Clearly Philadelphia is pro-choice as long as your choices conform to the expectations of Philadelphia’s left-wing political establishment. I should note that I probably would have many disagreements with any organization that has the term “Family” in it, including this one, but I’m glad to see them calling the city politicians out for their hypocrisies when it comes to choices they don’t approve of. If we’re going to be a pro-choice city, that those choices ought to extend to proprietors allowing patrons to light up in their bar, or cook with trans fats.
It’s good to see that crime is under such control in New Jersey that the police can expend so much energy making sure no one can have any fun on Independence Day:
Yet it’s illegal in New Jersey to use, possess or transport fireworks, including firecrackers, Roman candles, M80s, cherry bombs and even sparklers. New Jersey is among nine states that bans all consumer fireworks.
“It was a lot about enforcement, but it really was mostly about educating the people,” Hengemuhl said of the state police effort. “We wanted New Jerseyans to know it’s illegal and it’s dangerous.”
We have to put you in jail. It’s for your own good, you see.  Look, it’s one thing to ban fireworks in a dry climate, when there is a legitimate public welfare concern, it’s another thing to protect people from themselves. Pennsylvania bans many types of fireworks, but as far back as I can remember, fireworks laws in Pennsylvania have never been enforced by police on Fourth of July unless someone complained. New Jersey authorities are now talking about fireworks as though it were cocaine.
It’s high time for the citizens of New Jersey to take back what the politicians have taken from them: their basic freedom.  If people want to do something dangerous, that’s not anyone’s business other than theirs.
Rendell signed the bill that gives immunity to suits against landowners who open their land to hunters.
Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer apparently think a million of my tax dollars are well spent on a museum dedicated to Woodstock:
$1 million for the Museum at Bethel Woods, which is dedicated to recreating the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival experience and will feature “An interpretation of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Fair†exhibit in 2008, according to the museum’s website. The earmark is at the request of New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer.
One of the sad disappointments that associated with the advances in medical science, is that the Baby Boomers are going to be with us a long time, and will have many more years to impose this self-absorbed crap on younger taxpayers as they start hitting their retirement years. If aging hippies want a museum dedicated to Woodstock, they can have a friggin bake sale, and raise the money themselves.
SayUncle has a good post up about the ATF getting smacked down by federal courts over the “one a machine gun always a machine gun” and their AOW regulations. What do to?
Well, probably not much. It would help, I think, if we had a President who was interested in getting the various federal bureaucracies, including the ATF, under control. I think, though, that there’s been too much proliferation of federal law enforcement in general, and it would be beneficial to eliminate some of them. As I’ve said before, if I were dictator for a day, I’d eliminate the ATF, FBI, and Secret Service and roll their functions and agents into the Marshall service.
I don’t think this would automatically solve problems, but it would present the opportunity to get some new leadership into the bureaucracy, which hopefully would effect change in the long run.
Can we get the political establishment to please banish the term Czar from the vernacular?  Can we get people to agree to toss politicians who suggest we need a [insert favorite issue here] Czar out of their asses?
A leading critic of China in the U.S. Senate called on Sunday for creation of a new American “import czar,” saying the current maze of federal oversight has failed to protect consumers against harmful Chinese imports.
A statement issued by Schumer’s office said federal agencies including the Food and Drug Administration have proven ineffective at protecting American consumers from dangerous Chinese products including pet food and toothpaste tainted with industrial chemicals.
“There are more than a half dozen federal agencies responsible for monitoring, testing, and blocking dangerous or tainted shipments,” the Schumer statement said.
It’s bad enough we have a drug czar. Do we need more? I’m starting to think I’m mistaken in my impression I live in a free country. Kerry Howley tears that one apart.  Read the whole thing.