Friday, January 30, 2009

San Diego Activism

What do you get when you mix nutball activists from San Diego w/ articles from the Onion? A group that opposes JR-ROTC.

Sebastian covers this particular case quite well but I'm going to put in my two cents on the big picture. I lived in San Diego for four years while serving in the US Navy. In reality, San Diego is a hotbed of anti-military activism and wingnuttery.

There is a bridge going over the bay for the express purpose of providing a route to the numerous military installations on North Island and in San Diego. Elements of the local citizenry despise that bridge and the morning traffic that leaves them foaming at the mouth when discussed. Their solution is to demand that all traffic be barged across the bay. Really, I'm not kidding. They honestly think that dozens of barges trolling back and forth across the bay all day long is a better solution.

The Marine installations are constantly being harrassed for conducting live fire exercises. It disturbes the locals during their Yoga sessions and TV time. Obviously that's more important than having a military w/ the skills and experience to do their job. They should just pretend to fire their weapons.

Don't even get me started on the sub base. I recall one truly nonsense TV report using lots of inverted color shots and claims of nuclear materials just scattered willy-nilly on tarmacs.

The usual response by the city is just to ignore them. Hopefully they'll do the same w/ this bunch of clueless individuals.

NRA Motion to Intervene.

You know that stupid lawsuit the Brady Bunch have against Nat'l Park Carry? Here's their original filing.

Well the NRA filed a response and as Joe Huffman and I have noted, the Brady's are having kittens over it.

Good.

Thanks to the NRA-ILA for providing the link.

Risk vs Safety

Howard Nemerov, the author of the Examiner's Austing Gun Rights column, has a very detailed post on the Nat'l election and the comparison of Brady v NRA endorsements.

Some in-state comparisons were done earlier by myself and Bitter.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Sounds about right.

The NRA has filed against the Brady Campaign on the Federal Parks suit. According to the BC:

In the court papers filed this week, the NRA says they:

  • deny that the Brady Campaign is a grassroots membership organization or that it is involved in fighting to prevent gun violence;
  • deny that the Brady Campaign is dedicated to safety;
  • deny that the members of the Brady Campaign, if any, will face an increased risk because of the new regulation.

And this is inaccurate how?

Blagojevich Out

A unanimous vote by the Il Senate stripped Blago of the governorship and has ruled that he is ineligible to ever again hold public office.

Finally the Il legislature does something right.

Now comes the criminal indictment.

Photo of the week.

San Fran Settles

The San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) and the property management company that oversees San Francisco’s public housing projects have agreed to completely remove a lease provision banning guns in the residences.

From NRA-ILA

Brady Hypocrisy

"it's wrong for a congressman from Florida or anywhere else to tell people in those states what kind of gun laws they should have."
-Brady Campaign spokesman Doug Pennington
Yet the first two things on the Brady Campaign wishlist are :

# We need to require Brady criminal background checks for all gun sales in this country, including at gun shows.

# We need to restrict access to military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Can we say double standard boys and girls? "Home Rule" only applies when it comes to anti-gun bills in the minds of gun grabbers.

Read the rest.

Anatomy of an online gun control advocate

Over on Huffpo, a new poster showed up suggesting that Biometrics are the wave of the future for gun safety and that it was his belief that more research should go into developing the technology. All said in a nice moderate, 'reasonable' tone.

That is until people started questioning him.

At first he replied w/ the standards as set down by CA in their bill mandating biometrics. It was noted that the police/authorities are exempt from the requirements and that simple problems like having dirty hands or wearing gloves are a significant issue.

This was responded to by stating that several police chiefs supported the legislation and that all the rest were just 'red herrings'. When asked who were they mayors of these politically appointed individuals, the reply was "who cares, the police are highly trained individuals. Why should they be held to the same standards as you".

It just sort of devolved from there as the insults and personal attacks became his reply of choice. Such terms as 'unfettered access', 50mm machine guns, "unable to look at the big picture", etc. appeared in his posts. Basically "Why won't you gun nuts just accept this without question?"

But then came the real clincher that the poster was not all he appeared. An unsourced list of 'facts' to show that biometrics would solve global warming and bring peace in the Middle East. Since Google is my friend, it didn't take long to find the source of this cutnpaste. A "Fact Sheet" put out by the Brady Campaign. The footnotes reading like a who's who of Joyce Foundation gun control reports. Hemenway, Cook, Kellerman, et al.

So the poster revealed himself ,not as an advocate of real measures to reduce violence or accidents, but as another just another gun grabber who had problems buttoning his newly bought camo. I wonder if he knows Macca?

Chicago Gun Case: Round II

Filing in the Appellate Court.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

World War 2 Veterans: Rising Sun


As the flag of Japan spreads across the Pacific, commanders fly personalized flags.


U.S. Intelligence agents work diligently to assemble information on this threat.

View From the Trailer

Just a little snow last night.

Monday, January 26, 2009

ISP sitting on FOID applications: Update

Just got an E-mail from a friend of mine who sent in his application way back in October:
So I called the ISP. While going through the prompts I found it interesting that they have a new automated message saying that FOID cards are now taking 56 days to process. Well, I entered the selection saying that it had been more than 56 days and on the voice menu after that it said 30 days. Seems like someone is really behind.

I finally got ahold of someone who very quickly asked me for my info. He stuttered out a few lines about an old applications, something to do with the $10 (it sounded more in general than related to me specifically). I got a few rambled lines about how they're behind and that the system is messed up and that they're taking more time because of it. I mentioned that I had put my app in back in Oct and he said it was entered/processed on Nov 21. By my reckoning its still past 60 days and he fed me a generic "you should get it in 7-10 days" bs line. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they say that about the original 30 days? Ugh.

So hopefully I'll have it later this week. I have a feeling that they are letting things get caught up in red tape for a reason.

He was also told that they are into Dec. applications now. So his FOID was processed over two months ago and he still hasn't received it.

Here's the official response from the ISP:
Good Afternoon Jack,

This is the response we recieved from our Legislative Contact within the State Police. As always, if you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to give us a call.

"Unfortunately the ISP has experienced severe backlogs in the processing of FOID cards. This has most definitely not been done as a means to deprive citizens of their rights to own firearms and is directly resulting from staffing and funding deficiencies. Two additional employees were hired 12/16/08 and recent software changes should allow us to recognize a significant decrease in the backlog in the near future. Please let me know if you have further questions. "

Beth C. Goncher
District Director
Representative Tim Schmitz
(630)845-9590


That's the exact same thing they said last time in order to justify getting a cost increase. Think this isn't intentional?

CPD 90210

Fake Teen Cop Fools Police, Patrols Chicago for 5 Hours
CHICAGO — A 14-year-old aspiring police officer donned a uniform, walked into a Chicago police station and managed to get an assignment — patroling a squad car for five hours before he was detected, police said Sunday.

OK, that's just sad. He just walked into a station wearing a uniform and nobody questioned who he was.

They can do it to you

"If they can do it to a governor, they can do it to you."

The words of impeached Illinois Governor Rod "HotRod" Blagojevich on his claims that he's being railroaded out of office.

Guess what Gov? They've BEEN doing it to us and you've been part of it.

Now it's your turn. How does it feel?

Sunday, January 25, 2009

David E. Young on Blogspot

Eminent 2A scholar and historian David Young now has his own blog.

Go forth and read. This will be a great resource.

Texas Campus Carry

Via A Keyboard and a .45 comes this report from the TX legislature:

RECOMMENDATIONS

Texas' concealed carry law has been in effect for over a dozen years, and statistics show that Concealed Handgun Licensees have amassed an impressive track record of law-abiding and responsible behavior over that time period. The committee does not believe that eliminating a geographical boundary beyond which they cannot currently go legally armed - in this case, college and university campuses - will suddenly transform them into dangerous and irresponsible individuals. Moreover, we do not believe that campuses will become overwhelmed by a new population of armed students: the minimum age requirements established in law serve to limit the number of adult students who would actually qualify for a license. And again, statistics provided to the committee indicate that individuals who fit into the age group most closely associated with the typical adult college student account for a very small fraction of the CHL population overall...


So CCW on Campus wouldn't cause problems. Shock.

"Weapons of War"

This seems to be the new meme in order to justify a new "Assault Weapon" ban which is on Obama's to-do list. It's latest use is by Miami Mayor (and MAIG member) Manuel Diaz to distract from the fact that the police have no clue who or why the shooting occurred. You know, because Miami has no problems w/ gangs, drugs, or illegal immigrants. It's all due to those damn guns. Unicorns would be strolling in the parks farting rainbows and crapping marshmellows if it wasn't for the NRA. Nevermind the fact that semi-autos haven't been used in war in over 60 years.

And CNN is doing everything it can to pump up the hysteria and play to the ignorant. Not like that's ever happened before, right?