First he supported an assault weapons ban, then he kind of backed down, then he supported one again, and now he’s backed down… again. This is why the experienced politicians have all remained non-commital, and waited for the political dynamic to play out a bit before taking any firm position. I’m really not sure what Manchin thought he’d gain here. It’s not like he’s going to suddenly become a darling of the progressive left, and even if he does, West Virginia is full of working-class Democrats who don’t go for that.
Category: Politicians Suck
Common Enemies
From TechDirt, it looks like Gamers are having about as much problem with State Senator Leland Yee as gun owners. This is one reason I wasn’t too keen on alienating gamers. Though, I have to consider I got out of activism on nerd issues because nerds are horrible at political organizing and understanding politics. The gun issue is a relative paradise of political sense and action by comparison.
Ooops
Dishonest Turds
That’s what I’d call Joe Biden, Obama and his panel. See this Tweet from Larry Keene of NSSF. Apparently they promised no media, and when NRA and NSSF showed up, there were cameras and media. You know, if you follow certain theories floating around out there, that can work two ways, Joe.
These Kabuki rituals are tiresome. I’d would be nice if we were the kind of country that valued honest interaction, and it was considered socially acceptable to drop a fresh deuce right there on the conference table, in response to what American gun owners thought of the Administration’s ideas. We used to be a country whose lawmakers would challenge each other to duels, and fist fights on the House floor were commonplace.
Another Case of “Depression” for Another Illinois Politician?
We’ve seen one Illinois lawmaker on the verge of being busted by law enforcement seek treatment for rumored depression from coming to terms with the consequences of his actions. Will we see another follow in this new tradition?
An Illinois State Senator running to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. in Congress was arrested Wednesday morning after he allegedly tried to bring a gun onto a plane at O’Hare International Airport.
Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago) was charged with a felony count of attempting to board an aircraft with a weapon, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. The charge carries a penalty of 1 to 3 years in jail.
The article notes that he just announced his campaign for the seat of Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. last week. I’m rather shocked that a sitting State Senator is being held in jail, and that he’s actually being charged.
Interestingly, the guy has a C- from NRA from the last election. That’s hardly pro-gun, but then again, he represents Chicago. I don’t know if that makes him not a complete foe of the Second Amendment or just not a complete foe by the already terrible Chicago standard of recognizing the rights of citizens. (h/t @GunFreeZone)
Drawing a Blank on the Bill of Rights
I doubt most Americans could name you which of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights protect which rights, but most Americans aren’t members of Congress:
“I’m drawing a blank on the Second Amendment, but I think it’s the weapons, isn’t it? The NRA?” he said, according to The Monitor.
If I ever get to establish Sebastianland, the first rule for holding office in Sebastianland will be to name each of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights and tell me what right they protect. I think that should be basic, required knowledge for being a member of Congress. How can I expect a person to uphold their oath of office if they don’t even know the document?
I sometimes think the biggest flaw in the Constitution is that we didn’t have more provisions to try to keep morons from holding public office. If you had to devise a constitutional system that filtered for morons, how would you do it?
To Shake their Salt in the Tyrant’s Face
A minor wordplay on Robert Churchill’s book. Bitter and I went up to Mordor New York tonight for dinner and a concert. Since King Bloomberg deems salt unfit for his subjects, I decided I needed to engage in a minor act of defiance:
In truth the food was fine without the salt, but it had to be done. I return to the Kingdom of Bloombergia in a couple of weeks, and it is my intent to smuggle in a Big Gulp. It’s interesting that I can’t order an Imperial Pint of Coke in New York, unless I ask them to put rum in it too, in which case it’s fine. I still await the day when I can carry a firearm through the streets of New York without Bloomberg or any other New York mayor being able to do a damned thing about it.
Grasping Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
I think the best summary of the Missouri Senate campaign that I’ve seen so far starts with this:
Here’s the thing, if you’re running for the Senate and you have to cut a spot that assures voters that you think rape is bad and you now know that women don’t have a goalie in their vajay-jay to stop sperm in case of “legitimate rape”, you’re in big trouble.
I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see an ad worse than “I’m not a witch” but I was wrong. I regret the error.
I appreciate that the post highlights that this isn’t just about the risk of repeal of Obamacare, losing this seat impacts judicial nominations.
I’ll be honest, as a woman, if I saw Todd Akin’s name on a ballot, I don’t know if I could cast a vote for him even though I realize I would need to strategically in order to see my preferred political outcomes that have nothing to do with abortion become reality. When someone is so out-of-touch that they can’t take a serious look at the issue of a major criminal act, then I don’t believe they should be serving in government. When they are so unbelievably misinformed that they believe there’s some magic switch women can flip when they don’t want to become impregnated during a specific sexual act, well, they shouldn’t have any role in defining education or health policies.
As a female voter, I’m constantly hit with ads telling me that policies dictated by anatomy are ALWAYS AT RISK and that this election will be the one to see my rights DIRECTLY BANNED FOREVER. They stop only slightly short of saying that if a Republican is elected in this country, it will turn into a nation not unlike The Handmaid’s Tale. Needless to say, I tune it out.
Even with that filter in place, Akin’s remarks are simply inexcusable. The things he said aren’t even said in polite company, mostly because polite company probably wouldn’t be able to keep from making faces at the sheer stupidity of his understanding of how reproduction works even if they were left in stunned silence at his dismissal of the impacts of rape.
I truly hope that the women of Missouri get a better candidate later today. With someone like him on the ballot, there can’t be a true debate over the actual issues that women – whether on the right, left, or in the center – might want to discuss when it comes to healthcare and access to services. There won’t be room to make the argument that perhaps taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill to fund everyone’s favorite birth control because with Akin on the ballot, he might just assume that women don’t really need birth control at all since we can apparently just “shut that whole thing down.” It really doesn’t matter what he says now, those will be the arguments that people will hear. And really, is that unbelievable that those arguments might stick with a few folks? It’s less unbelievable than the idea that a 65-year-old father doesn’t know about the birds and bees and wants to make public policy on his misinformation.
UPDATE: I think this is an excellent post from Clayton Cramer on why Akin’s statement just isn’t backed up by data no matter what he claimed as his source. I guess what really disturbs me about that situation is that it’s not just a fundamental knowledge issue, it shows that he’s not remotely serious about his beliefs in order to defend them, and he doesn’t do any basic research at all before taking a position on public policy. Clayton sums it up best:
This is one of the reasons that I try to emphasize to ideologues of all stripes that if you go looking for evidence that backs your position, you will find evidence that backs your position, and you will miss the evidence that doesn’t.
Go read his entire post.
Laws Are For Little People
Pennsylvanians who don’t live in Scranton dodged a political bullet in 2010 when the city’s mayor lost two Democratic primary races for higher office. The MAIG mayor first tried running for governor, but dropped out when it was clear he was losing the primary race. Then he tried running for a state senate seat in his area, but he lost that race to a pro-gun Democrat.
At the time he was running, Doherty announced he wanted the state to enact a one-gun-a-month law and wanted to end preemption. It turns out that it’s a good thing his career has kept him at the local level since he has now decided that laws don’t apply to him.
Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty cut everyone’s pay — including his own — on Friday, saying the state’s sixth-largest city is broke because the City Council blocked his proposed tax increase. Doherty, a Democrat, warned nearly 400 police officers, firefighters and public works employees about his doomsday plan, prompting a Lackawanna County judge to order the city to pay full wages to all employees, citing that it is a violation of their contracts. Hours later, the payday envelopes went out, and, despite the judge’s order, they were light.
What does a judge’s order really mean? It’s not anything Doherty believes should carry the force of law or be used to hold him accountable. Clearly, he can use city dollars however he chooses without the interference of that pesky judicial oversight or even input from his fellow elected officials who actually vote on the budget. If this is how he views division of government for his city, can you imagine what he would have done on gun laws if elected governor with a legislature that wasn’t willing to pass anything?
Hating on Pennsylvania Republicans
I really wish Democrats in my area were more aligned with me on anything remotely fiscal or on the right to bear arms. I need an alternative that’s serious about issues and not running for fun on a third party ticket. So much that’s wrong with the GOP in this area of Pennsylvania is represented by what has recently been uncovered about recent ethics violations, some by a Republican former lawmaker from this region as he heads up a government monopoly agency.
We’ve got favors in exchange for business opportunities and crony capitalism:
For six months beginning last summer, the report said, a top LCB aide devoted part of her time to searching for jobs for Conti’s brother and daughter. It was not clear from the report who had directed the aide to do this.
But earlier this year, the report said, Conti e-mailed Starr, recommending that the famed restaurateur hire his daughter.
In the same e-mail, Conti wrote: “On the business front, I would love to revisit the opportunity for a wine boutique in one of your future properties. Team PLCB could be [a] dependable partner. . . . And thank you for reading the info from a proud father in regards to his daughter . . . .”
Weeks later, Conti’s daughter was hired as an executive assistant for Starr Restaurants Catering Group, the report says.
We’ve got sponsorship gifts for the spouses organized by the bureaucrats:
The report concluded that Stapleton, the onetime LCB chairman, accepted several gifts from an LCB vendor, North Wales-based Capital Wine & Spirits.
The gifts included about $1,700 worth of alcohol for an event at the Hotel Hershey last year that Stapleton and his ex-wife organized – the annual Keystone Weekend, billed as a forum for business, civic, sports, and entertainment leaders to exchange ideas on current issues.
Stapleton solicited the alcohol and the LCB vendor donated 60 bottles, the report said. It quoted an e-mail sent to him last Sept. 12 by a Capital executive: “The wine and spirits for Keystone weekend is taken care of.”
The report said another LCB vendor, Majestic Wine & Spirits, lined up a celebrity chef for the same event.
We’ve got pay-offs with free tickets to major sporting events with companies seeking business deals with the agency:
It says one LCB vendor secured a round of golf with a pro for Stapleton during a tournament at Aronimink – and sent two employees to serve as Stapleton’s caddies.
…
Conti, according to the report, frequently attended Philadelphia-area sporting events last summer.He and his wife, Molli, were described as guests of the Philadelphia Union during one of its soccer games last June – at a time when the team was trying to conduct business with the LCB. Weeks later, the Union invited Conti again, but Short, the LCB marketing director, ended up going in his place, the report said.
Conti, a former Republican state senator from Bucks County, was described as often attending Phillies games as a guest of LCB vendors. Investigators “found no evidence that Conti or his family members paid for the tickets.”
The problem in this is that it’s not business partners doing something nice for each other. The article points out that it’s a crime for these executives to accept gifts, and the state ethics laws also prohibit the employees from using their position to benefit their family members. Interestingly, this wasn’t even a thorough investigation because the investigators couldn’t interview staff or vendors. They relied solely on what the executives were admitting to in official emails.
Of course, members of the GOP in other parts of the state are largely responsible for stalling the privatization bills that would get the state out of the business of selling liquor so that these politicians-turned-bureaucrats wouldn’t even be in a position to use their offices to demand favors and jobs in exchange for business opportunities at taxpayer expense.
I know that in this area, the Republicans brag about not being too socially conservative. That’s fine, but not just because it’s more in line with my views, but because this area has a large population of NY and NJ transplants who aren’t socially conservative either. Then they also brag about not being fiscal conservatives, either. Everything the GOP leaders here say in public are very much about just staying in control as opposed to actually promoting good government or even ideas. It’s very frustrating because they don’t give me a single reason to vote for them as opposed to voting against the other guy in the race. We have a few exceptions here and there, but not many.