Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
G. B. Shaw
Category Archives: Politics
Freedom or Coercion, Which Do You Choose?
It’s kind of bizarre to think that we have a “choice between coercion and choice” which is an oxymoron, but technically we do have it:
In a just world, we would never need to waste a minute discussing this, except with our young children, or in elementary school history classes, but see if you can guess which will outperform; a Soviet-style, government-run monopoly or a free market (our current public school system or school choice)?
Walter E. Williams of course nails it as usual. The video, done by Stossel and 20/20, is excellent also. I especially liked the “rubber room” concept they have in New York, as it upholds everything I’ve ever said about our socialist education system (I do have to hand it to them as I’ve often said we’d be better off paying certain public workers to stay away from the job, and here we find that they’re doing exactly that).
Our current system really is anti-American, anti-choice, and anti-success, and it needs to be scrapped as soon as possible. The best teachers and administrators will form their own, better schools virtually overnight. The worst ones? They can always pick fruit for a living.
I don’t like the sound of this
Democrats, NRA make deal on new gun rules:
WASHINGTON — Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National Rifle Association on what could be the first federal gun-control legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly strengthen the national system that checks the backgrounds of gun buyers.
The sensitive talks began in April, days after a mentally ill student killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University. The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, had been judicially ordered to submit to a psychiatric evaluation, which should have disqualified him from buying handguns. But the state of Virginia never forwarded that information to the federal National Instant Check System, and the massacre exposed a loophole in the 13-year-old background-check program.
Under the agreement, participating states would be given monetary enticements for the first time to keep the federal background database up to date, as well as penalties for failing to comply.
To sign on to the deal, the powerful gun lobby won significant concessions from Democratic negotiators. Individuals with minor infractions in their pasts could petition their states to have their names removed from the federal database, and about 83,000 military veterans, put into the system by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2000 for alleged mental health reasons, would have a chance to clean their records.
The federal government would be permanently barred from charging gun buyers or sellers a fee for their background checks. In addition, faulty records such as duplicative names or expunged convictions would have to be scrubbed from the database.
“The NRA worked diligently with the concerns of gun owners and law enforcement in mind to make a … system that’s better for gun owners and better for law enforcement,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., who led the talks.
First: If someone is so dangerous they can’t be trusted with a gun then I don’t think they can be trusted with a can of gasoline and a book of matches either. Either they can be trusted in public or they should be locked up.
Second: Making the least agreeable portions of the infringement on our rights more palatable just means it will be more difficult to justify getting rid of it entirely later on.
Third: The longer this infringement stays in place the more accepting of it people are. The ban on new machine gun sales is so well accepted that most people believe they are banned entirely. Today it would be really tough to repeal the ban on machine guns and day by day it’s getting more difficult for people to even consider repealing the Brady Act.
Fourth: The Brady/FBI database and reporting system is so close to a database of all gun owners and their guns that it is a hazard to the health of our freedom. Which has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peal anyway.
All that said, borrowing from a great book I just listened to recently, Survival of the Sickest, “Why would you take a pill that will kill you 40 years from now?” The answer is, “Because it will keep me from dying tomorrow.” And so it is with this agreement.
Irony at the CDC
Some “progressive” activist is complaining that the CDC has becoming politicized:
In 1995 there was a vibrant public health effort in the area of gun injuries. Then the newly elected Republican Congress applied the pressure of the gun lobby. Suddenly the half dozen or so states funded by CDC to do fire arm injury surveillance were defunded. Zeroed out. Shortly thereafter all CDC funded prevention and injury programs had to agree that there would be no activities, direct or indirect, related to gun control. Health department people we have spoken to reported that a profound chill settled over injury programs regarding gun injuries, like homicides from guns. Intense pressure was applied to the head of the CDC injury control program and he and some of his experts on the public health aspects of firearm injury were threatened with investigations over possible entanglement with gun control advocates. Now extreme care is taken in how data is reported or recommendations made in the area of gun injuries.
Never mind that those “studies” were some of the most egregious examples of sloppy science I have ever seen. The “studies” were implemented to generate political justification for infringing our constitutionally guaranteed rights. Those studies were just as repugnant as a “public health effort” in the area of gays/blacks/Jews with entanglements with the KKK. Taxpayer (my) money was being spent to justify taking my guns away from me. And this bigot gets bent out of shape because they have to be more careful in their science?
The CDC was engaged in highly political activities, they are told to stop, and this person whines, “…politics has become an increasingly important part of CDC world.”
Where, in the Constitution, is the Federal Government granted the power to create the CDC to begin with? The CDC in it’s entirety, is a political creation of the socialist scum of this country. For this “progressive” to be whining about the defunding of a small portion of the CDC engaged in an illegal conspiracy (see 18 USC 241 and 242) is beyond ironic. It’s effrontery.
Wow!
Via Say Uncle who viewed it at The Bitch Girls.
Question: Handgun ownership; A right or a privilege? Answer: Privilege.
But he considers a college education, access to the internet, and health care as rights. How did he manage to get through law school?
Quote of the day–Fred Thompson
Many other universities have been swayed by an anti-gun, anti-self defense ideology. I respect their right to hold those views, but I challenge their decision to deny Americans the right to protect themselves on their campuses — and then proudly advertise that fact to any and all.
Whenever I’ve seen one of those “Gun-free Zone” signs, especially outside of a school filled with our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, I’ve always wondered exactly who these signs are directed at. Obviously, they don’t mean much to the sort of man who murdered 32 people just a few days ago.
Fred Thompson
April 20, 2007
Signs of Intelligence?
[Spread Fred!–Joe]
Quote of the day–Eugene McCarthy
It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember.
Eugene McCarthy
[Giuliani and Romney come to mind as having not learned that lesson. And that most politicians have learned that lesson explains why I get a weird sort of frustrated anger after listening to them. They can talk for hours without say anything.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Rush Limbaugh
The New York Times has become Mad Magazine.
Rush Limbaugh
May 29, 2007
After reading the second paragraph of this opinion piece.
Quote of the day–John Stossel
When everyone in politics jumps on a bandwagon like ethanol, I start to wonder if there’s something wrong with it. And there is. Except for that fact that ethanol comes from corn, nothing you’re told about it is true.
John Stossel
May 23, 2007
The Many Myths of Ethanol
[Remember when I wrote about ethanol a while back? My brother Doug did some quickie “back of the envelope” type number crunching and came to the same conclusions Stossel writes about.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Tom Scocca
Replace my real light bulbs with fluorescents, in sickly yellow or morgue blue, and I’ll have to burn something else for color. Whale oil, maybe.
Tom Scocca
May 22, 2007
Fluorescent Fanatics Turn Me Off
Quote of the day–Gen. James H. Doolittle
If a gun bill will pass because of the politics of a situation, you must see to it that its burdens are imposed upon a man because of a criminal background and not because he is an ordinary citizen and perhaps poor.
Gen. James H. Doolittle
Quote of the day–Joe Waldron
Inside sources claim the gun control community (Sarah Brady, et al) are urging D.C. Mayor Fenty to stay away from the Supreme Court and just try to rewrite the D.C. ban to allow very restrictive handgun licensing a la New York City.
Joe Waldron
May 18, 2007
GOAL Post 2007-Final Legislative Update from Olympia
[Exactly two months ago I said they should do this–If they were smart.–Joe]
“Power Sharing”
One of the marvels of the United States has always been Her “Melting Pot” status, wherein people from all walks of life, from all around the world have come together to produce the most successful society in human history.
That’s why it bugs me when I hear people who should know better discussing the political situation in Iraq, for example. We hear about the various and disparate groups in that country having trouble coming to an acceptable “power sharing” agreement. What does that mean– power sharing? That’s something that might be arranged between one king or one dictator and another, or between rival gangsters, but in a free society?
No, Grasshopper! In a free society all individuals have the same rights, so the term “power sharing” has no meaning. That one race, religion or other demographic might outnumber another in a certain region is, rightly, of no consequence for the simple fact that they haven’t the political power to trample on the rights of the minority. If that ideal is not the foundation of their Constitution, then the Constitution needs a serious rewrite.
I am reminded of a quote from Ayn Rand (thanks to “The Smallest Minority” web site): “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
Its time more of the freedom-hungry people in Iraq understand and embrace this simple concept if they are to have any hope of realizing their dream. It would be nice if more Americans understood it too.
Quote of the day–Robert Levy
I think that it is very unlikely that five justices on the Supreme Court are going to say that the Second Amendment means nothing. That’s what they would have to say to uphold the total ban on handguns that exists in Washington D.C.
It is also especially unlikely during the heat of the 2008 election—and that is when it is going to happen—because it would be a rallying cry for the whole pro-gun committee. Just like an abortion decision that overturned Roe v. Wade would animate the pro-choice folks. That kind of political turmoil is something the court is sensitive to.
Dr. Robert Levy
April 19, 2007
Interview: The Way of the Gun
Mother Jones
[Mother Jones is typically a left wing news magazine. Levy is the lawyer is driving the Second Amendment challenge to D.C.’s ban on guns. Also known as the Parker case. I think it should have been “community” rather than “committee” but still–Levy has his act together.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Kevin Baker
And hey! Nuclear Winter will stop Global Warming! It’s a two-fer!
Kevin Baker
May 14, 2007 2:16 PM
[From the comments to the post To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. Which, by the way, is an excellent post. I kept thinking that someday I would write down my thoughts as expressed by Kevin in this post. But it would have been a far more feeble effort than Kevin’s well researched masterpiece.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Nicolas Sarkozy
There is a demand for change. Never have the risks of inertia been so great for France as they are now in this world in flux where everyone across the world is trying to change quicker than the others, where any delay can be fatal.
Nicolas Sarkozy
May 16, 2007
Sarkozy Gets Off to a Fast Start as President of France
[He also said France needs to get back to work. Sounds good to me. And from the same article:
Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which claims links with Al Qaeda, threatened in an Internet posting on Tuesday that it would wage “a bloody jihadist campaign” in France in the coming days in reaction to the election of the “Zionist crusader,” Mr. Sarkozy.
Ditto what Tamara said.–Joe]
Quote of the day–Tamara K.
The guy’s as popular in France’s Muslim ghettos as a bag of pork rinds, which rates another thumbs up in my book. If non-assimilating misogynist welfare leeches hate him, he can’t be all bad.
Tamara K.
May 9, 2007
My reaction to the Frog reaction to the Sarkozy win…
[Sarkozy has a big job ahead of him. But his election gives me hope for a world where the Islamic extremist demands for world domination are thwarted.–Joe]
Quote of the day–H. L. Mencken
Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.
H. L. Mencken
[This is no exaggeration. I’m still smarting from the checks we wrote out for taxes on April 15th.–Joe]
For the Love of Freedom
I want my kids to grow up in a society that is more free than the one in which I grew up.
Anyone agree, or do you believe we are still not restricted enough?
Today we have this:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
This:
http://arepublic.blogspot.com/2007/02/hr-1022.html
This:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
This:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/faq/oaths.htm
And this:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/242fin.htm
…all at the same time. One may connect the dots in any order.
Quote of the day–P. J. O’Rourke
For the people in government, rather than the people who pester it, Washington is an early-rising, hard-working city. It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.
P. J. O’Rourke
Parliament of Whores
[Adhering to the enumerated powers granted the government would resolve this problem. But of course most people really don’t want this problem solved. They keep telling each other that if just given enough money and power government can solve nearly any problem. Of course most people teach their kids there really is a Santa Claus, an Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy too.–Joe]