John Richardson reports on several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who are proffering what looks to me like a Bill of Attainder, which targets George Zimmerman by name. Granted, this is merely a resolution, rather than a law that enacts punishment, so it could arguably not be considered one as a matter of law. But certainly, condemning someone by name insults the spirit of the constitutional provision prohibiting them.
Category: Politicians Suck
Jennifer Granholm “Forgets” Her Past Legislative Achievements to Become a Liberal Darling
Jennifer Granholm has decided that attacking NRA and siding with Media Matters is the way to win viewers to her new show on Al Gore’s Current.
NRA admits to helping draft #StandYourGround law. Are you surprised? http://bit.ly/H1mdVO via @MMFA @GranholmTWR #TheWarRoom
I guess she presumes they will just lap up everything she has to say without question. So far, it seems to be working. Only pro-gun folks have caught on to the fact that Governor Jennifer Granholm gladly signed six bills to make Michigan’s castle doctrine and stand your ground laws stronger. From July 20, 2006:
Today Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law a package of six self-defense bills backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), bringing “Castle Doctrine” protections to law-abiding Michigan citizens. …
The six-bill Castle Doctrine Package passed with bi-partisan, supermajority support in both houses of the Michigan legislature:
- SB 1046, sponsored by Sen. Alan Cropsey, outlines rebuttal presumptions for justified use of self-defense. The bill makes it clear that there is no “duty to retreat” if a person is in a place where they have a legal right to be.
- SB 1185, sponsored by Sen. Ron Jelinek, allows for the award of court and attorney fees in civil cases where it was determined a person acted in accordance with the Self Defense Act and where civil immunities apply.
- HB 5548, sponsored by Rep. Tim Moore, gives civil immunities to persons acting in accordance with the Self Defense Act, preventing criminals and their families from suing law-abiding citizens.
- HB 5153, sponsored by Rep. Leslie Mortimer, puts the burden of proof on the prosecutor to show that a person acted unlawfully in the application of force, rather than the person using the force having to prove they acted lawfully.
- HB 5142, sponsored by Rep. Tom Casperson, expands the definition of “dwelling” to include a person’s garage, barn, backyard, etc.
- HB 5143, sponsored by Rep. Rick Jones, creates the Self Defense Act and specifies that it is not a crime to use force or deadly force to defend oneself if that person is not breaking any laws when defensive force was used. The person must be facing imminent threat of death or great bodily harm.
I guess she doesn’t want to highlight her record working with law-abiding gun owners and instead is embracing darlings of the left like Media Matters and their leaders who have been accused of carrying firearms illegally. (h/t @graycpeterson)
Politicians are the Same Everywhere
In the wake of random tragedy, is to suggest there’s probably some new law that wouldn’t have prevented a damned thing, but will nonetheless sound good to those weak souls who demand that the government do something. We have plenty of these worms here in America, but I think the only difference is we’re a bit, and sadly only a bit, more willing to say publicly, for all to see, they are worms, and should be ignored. But maybe only a bit is enough to at least slow the advance of the lowest common denominator.
Pro-Gun “Heros”?
This seems to be a common theme among our opponents, to try to make us wear the shame of Tennessee State Representative Curry Todd, sponsor of Tennessee’s restaurant carry bill, who was caught in a DUI while he also had a pistol holstered inside his vehicle. To do this, they are classifying him as our “hero.” While forcing responsible, law-abiding gun owners to accept responsibility for those who misuse guns is a tried and true tenet of our opponents philosophy, this one I think is particularly laughable.
I can’t think of too many politicians I would regard as heroic figures, even ones that are on my side on the gun issue. In addition, many of the politicians who are on my side on the gun issue are decidedly not on many others. Just thinking here in Pennsylvania, I’ve always appreciated Rep. Daryl Metcalfe’s tenacity on the issue of Pennsylvanian’s Second Amendment rights, but I disagree with him pretty strongly on just about every other social issue of the day, and have always thought him a demagogue on a number of those issues.
Politicians aren’t our heroes. They are instruments that the interests of citizens are represented through. No more, no less. Todd is certainly not a hero of mine, as I had never even heard of the guy until this incident, and I certainly hope he’s appropriately punished for his transgression. But our opponents will continue to try to make us wear his shame as if it were our own. As if we were the ones who were caught in an aggravated DUI with a pistol strapped between the seat cushions. That is part and parcel for how they operate, and likely how they justify their intrusion into our personal choices.
The 1%
Does Anyone Remember the Movie “Brewster’s Millions?”
It was an 80s movie starring Richard Pryor, where he had to spend 30 million in 30 days, in order to get a 300 million inheritance. But the catch was that he couldn’t have anything to show for it at the end of 30 days. He also couldn’t just give the money away. I keep thinking of that when reading about the Solyndra scandal.
Part of me feels for the people who were let go. Our management blew through 130 million, instead of 500, but some of the stories the employees are now speaking about in regard to waste sound eerily familiar. Nonetheless, it took us ten years to burn through our money in an industry that’s inherently quite costly. It’s hard for me to even fathom how a 1100 person manufacturing company burns through a cool half-billion in a year without just taking 100 dollar bills and using them for toilet paper, or as filters for the coffee machine, and even then I think it’d be tough. These people clearly put the management of my previous employer to shame, when it comes to wasting cash.
The other thing that upsets me about Solyndra is the fact that the GOP had to go blow the whole impeachment thing on Bill Clinton for getting a blow job in the oval office and lying about it. Giving a half-billion dollars of our money to your political cronies to take a match to is exactly the kind of thing I want to see a President standing before Congress in chains over. But that’s not going to happen. No, they blew that wad. Thanks guys.
Bill Clinton Gone Vegan?
Say it ain’t so Bill? But my first thought after seeing that headline, is that he’s probably sleeping with some chick that’s a vegan, and so now he’s a vegan too. PETA is happy now, though:
In December 2010, PETA named Clinton its Person of the Year, estimating that his diet shift spared the lives of 200 animals a year.
I hate to break it to PETA, but I ate those animals instead. Yum.
Canton Ohio Council President …
… forgot the first rule of PR is that when you find yourself in a hole, to stop digging:
What your officer did was unconscionable. There’s absolutely no fucking excuses for that video I saw. This guy needs to be raked over the coals. You Sir, no matter what you say, are against the Second Amendment. This guy should not have a council meeting for the next several months that is not inundated with angry gun owners from Ohio. This guy has thrown down, and it’s time to act.
Bozo
Just because she votes the right way doesn’t make her any less of one. These are people I’d rather not have on my side. The media seems to keep harping on the gun not having a safety. I don’t care whether it has a safety or not, you don’t point it at people. I also don’t care whether the the reporter, as Klein claims, sat in front of her line of sight. If someone walks in front of the muzzle, you point it in a safe direction immediately. It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario where I let someone walk in front of my muzzle. It’s also, equally hard, to imagine a scenario where I agree to show off my loaded pistol to a reporter, or anyone. If someone asks to see the gun you’re carrying, the responsible answer should be “NO,” and the next question is how the person knew you were carrying in the first place.
UPDATE: SayUncle notes that her side of the story is different, namely that she cleared the pistol first.
Ray Nagin is as Crazy as a June Bug
It turns out Ray Nagin is completely off his rocker, at least according to his new book:
“And after several rounds of going back and forth, our unwelcome visitors got the message that we were not going to allow them to take over or gain access to my room to plant bugging devices.†[…]
“I thought to myself, ‘I’m a dead man! I have just publicly denounced the governor, U.S. Senators, FEMA and the president of the United States,’†he writes. “I started wondering if during the night I would be visited by specially trained CIA agents. Could they secretly shoot me with a miniature, slow-acting poison dart? […]
Nagin admits he also suffered pangs of paranoia on the Monday after the storm, when he visited the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship that docked near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and served as a base of federal operations.
There, he was escorted to an infirmary where two medical staffers “had orders to examine me and give me shots.â€â€œI was still a little paranoid and again started imagining a secret CIA plot where in six months I would be gone,†he writes. “After thinking for a minute, I said to them, ‘Okay, you can give me shots, but I want you to do the same for my two security guys.’
“My thinking was it would have been easier to spin that stress ultimately took me out, but it would be much harder to explain all three of us suddenly dying mysteriously,†writes Nagin, who said during Wednesday’s briefing that his sense of suspicion abated shortly after his visit to the ship.
And this is before he goes into the conspiracy to rid New Orleans of black people. Now I understand why this guy doesn’t trust anyone with firearms. It’s projection. He probably doesn’t trust himself, and assumes everyone else is as much a loon as he is. He has good judgement for himself. I’m not sure Ray Nagin is the kind of guy I want having a gun either, let alone running a city.
Isn’t it amazing how off balance so many of our opponents are? At least he was kind enough to document his delusions for posterity.