Amendment II Democrats - Cheap Shots for 2008

[derby378]

Why are they called "Cheap Shots?" Because hey, they're free, and your humble Webmaster couldn't think of anything snappier. So here we go!

BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE
ANALYSIS: Shooting blanks

While the Brady Campaign has been busy trumpeting its alleged gains in the 2008 election, the fact remains that the finances of the Brady Campaign have been seriously depleted. As of December 17, 2008, their total cash on hand is $11,873 - their lowest end-of-campaign-season level in over 10 years. While their total receipts did manage to beat out their 2006 take by a modest margin, it appears that the majority of its major donors have decided to seek out greener pastures. If they keep up the current pace, the Brady Campaign could be flat broke by 2012. (Thanks to The Center for Responsive Politics for the hard data.) In fact, some who have donated heavily to these guys in the past have now diverted their cash towards supporting other organizations that do not embrace the extreme agenda of the gun-control lobby. Which brings us to...

AMERICAN HUNTERS AND SHOOTERS ASSOCIATION
ANALYSIS: Hunting for big game

Who the heck are these guys, anyway? While some have understandably downplayed AHSA as little more than a "letterhead organization," this PAC has carved out a niche for itself by appealing to hunters, sport shooters, and likeminded gun owners who feel uncomfortable with both the NRA and the Brady Campaign. AHSA President Ray Schoenke has been hitting the campaign trail on behalf of Obama more than any Brady activist that I'm aware of, and it has apparently paid off in terms of exposure and access to Obama. AHSA opposes renewing any ban on semi-automatics, but also promotes conservation efforts and believes that a rational policy towards gun laws must have input from hunters. We would do well to see where they go from here.

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
ANALYSIS: Needs to recalibrate the sights

The 800-pound gorilla of the Second Amendment lobby put up a fairly good fight, and the NRA isn't going away for a long time to come, but their anti-Obama campaign was no match for a limping economy that mixed traditional Reaganomics with the incompetence of the George W. Bush administration. While the NRA did support various Democratic candidates across America, their endorsement of John McCain's bid for the White House was problematic at best, considering McCain's spotty record on gun legislation. Memo to Wayne LaPierre: there's a multitude of good reasons why General Motors and Chrysler are rethinking their traditional financial support of Republican candidates; maybe it's time for the NRA to do the same?

MISS TENNESSEE, ELLEN CARRINGTON
ANALYSIS: "Here she is..."

Pistol-packing beauty queen has a concealed handgun license and a .40-caliber S&W to go with it. Anyone have a problem with this?

JUDGE JANE CUTLER GREENSPAN, PHILADELPHIA COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
ANALYSIS: Brought the hammer down

Stood up to the gun-control lobby by declaring that Philadelphia could not enforce new laws that banned semi-automatics and reduced handgun purchases to one a month. Pennsylvania state law declares that only the state legislature can move to pass such legislation - cities and municipalities cannot trump Harrisburg. Judge Greenspan clearly made the right choice.

MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO
ANALYSIS: Still deciding which gun to shoot blanks with

In April, Daley discussed his plan to arm police with semi-automatic rifles, stating, "When they come to a scene, someone has a semi-fully-automatic weapon, and you have a little pistol, uh, good luck." We're still waiting for the Mayor to explain what a "semi-fully-automatic weapon" is.

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ROD BLAGOJEVICH
ANALYSIS: Not shooting blanks, but selling them to the highest bidder

Land of Lincoln, we feel for you. While the embattled Governor's alleged plot to auction off Obama's former Senate seat is bad enough on its own, Blagojevich is also accused of threatening to withhold funds earmarked for a children's hospital in Chicago because the hospital CEO did not grease his palms with a $50K donation. Never mind that Blagojevich used the hospital as a backdrop during a 2007 press conference in which he railed against Second Amendment rights, supposedly doing it "for the children."

KANSAS GOVERNOR KATHLEEN SEBELIUS
ANALYSIS: Taking out the trash

Like Rod Blagojevich, Kathleen Sebelius is a Democrat. Unlike Blagojevich, she signed Senate Bill 46 into law this past April, which strikes down the state law prohibiting civilian ownership of NFA weapons. If you live in Kansas, you may now purchase that Heckler & Koch MP5 you've had your eyes on - but remember, all NFA and FOPA rules still apply. Maybe one day we can get around to revising FOPA as well. In the meantime, kudos to the Governor for realizing that the law-abiding shouldn't be punished just for being law-abiding. Contrast her behavior with our next person of interest...

OFFICER "I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT"
ANALYSIS: Shooting his mouth off - and shooting Newark in the foot

New Jersey has really tough gun laws - and at least one cop in Newark's PD who thinks this gives him more leeway to bully and assault innocent civilians. Like the cameraman from a regional CBS affiliate that he put in a chokehold and arrested simply for filming a protest by family members who lost loved ones to violent crime involving guns. Yes, the out-of-control officer got suspended by the force, but his actions serve as a definitive wake-up call to the rest of America - when your Second Amendment rights go bye-bye, your First Amendment rights are next. Whatever happened to To Serve and To Protect?

WASHINGTON, DC GUN LAWS
ANALYSIS: Running out of ammunition

Until this year, the District of Columbia defined any semi-automatic pistol that can fire more than 12 shots without reloading as a "machine gun." Thankfully, this crazy law has been nullified, but the City Council is doing everything it can to blunt the impact of the Heller ruling. Speaking of which...

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA V. HELLER
ANALYSIS: Agent Smith, meet Neo

The courtroom action on June 26 may not have been as explosive as Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving squaring off against each other in The Matrix, but the Supreme Court's affirmation of Dick Heller's case speaks for itself. Although the 5-4 decision was still a bit too narrow for our liking, Heller punched a hole in a decades-old notion of political whimsy that the Second Amendment doesn't mean what it says. For the first time ever, the Supreme Court ruled that Americans do indeed have a right to keep and bear arms that is not dependent on militia service. Anti-gun activists reached for the antacid. The Brady Campaign started talking as if the text of Heller actually supported their agenda. But in the end, the Supreme Court's decision, though arguably imperfect and still vulnerable to legal manipulation, shut down DC's draconian gun ban and put strict gun legislation across America on notice. Heller knows kung fu. Pass the popcorn.

This list also available on the Amendment II Democrats blog on MySpace.

[iverglas]

1. just one question

Yes, the out-of-control officer got suspended by the force, but his actions serve as a definitive wake-up call to the rest of America - when your Second Amendment rights go bye-bye, your First Amendment rights are next. Whatever happened to To Serve and To Protect?

Do you inhabit a planet where time moves backward?

[rangersmith82]

3. I think he is saying that...

Once citizens are totally disarmed the government could just remove/suspend all rights.

Once disarmed, US citizens would have no tools to fight a Draconian police force/Government.

And yes this is very far fetched idea right now, but could be reality if the US citizens are disarmed.

Never expect the government/state to take care of you.

If you do one day you might be stuck living in the Super dome.

Remain Vigilant

[iverglas]

5. haha heehee hoho

Never expect the government/state to take care of you.
If you do one day you might be stuck living in the Super dome.

Oh, that's right.

Nobody in New Orleans ... or the rest of the USofA ... had any guns.


Once citizens are totally disarmed the government could just remove/suspend all rights.

Yes, it's a strange world you inhabit.

[eridani]

11. The white folks randomly murdering black people sure had guns

You're proposing a race war with both sides armed to the teeth?

[iverglas]

14. you esem to have been speaking to me

Perhaps you clicked the wrong link.

[eridani]

10. The fourth amendment has been completely trashed,

--and the people holed up in their widdle private fortresses don't give a flying fuck.

[iverglas]

2. oh, and I prefer this one

MISS TENNESSEE, ELLEN CARRINGTON
ANALYSIS: "Here she is..."

Pistol-packing beauty queen has a concealed handgun license and a .40-caliber S&W to go with it. Anyone have a problem with this?

I don't devote a lot of thought to beauty queens (I was one of the small but nation-wide group of women who acted up and put a permanent end to Miss Canadian University back in 1970, and there ended my interest). But I recently encountered the story of this one.

http://pageantcenter.com/miss_america_articles.html

Carolynn Sapp, Miss America 1992

Former Miss America helps Expose Walmart - Carolyn Sapp joins nationwide campaign aimed at increasing women's support for the fight against alleged sexual discrimination at Wal-Mart stores

Watched this the other night:

http://wakeupwalmart.com/news/article.html?article=1526

New Canadian Film: "Wal-Mart World's Most Hated Company."

... Since 1994, when Wal-Mart swallowed 122 Woolco stores, the Canadians have greeted Wal-Mart with a Big Chill. Today the giant retailer controls 305 stores in Canada, and is in the early stages of a superstore rollout across the provinces. But Wal-Mart's history north of the border has been marked by bitter union battles, and increasingly fractious encounters with local residents. It was in Canada, after all, where Wal-Mart shut down a newly-minted store---rather than see it unionized.

In the middle of his new film, Wal-Mart Nation, Toronto-based Andrew Munger quotes a member of an Arkansas group called "Against the Wal" saying, "We'd all be a lot better off if Wal-Mart was less greedy." That pretty much epitomizes Munger's film, which has been shown thus far only to Canadian audiences--but opens this coming week in a couple of American film festivals. Munger borrows a few iconic American symbols---like Miss America, and Presidential candidate John Edwards---to reveal the underside of Wal-Mart Canada.

... Former Miss America, Carolyn Sapp, is shown working a bullhorn in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Las Vegas. "We know that they abuse women and men---their hard-working employees," Sapp says. After reading of the massive class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 1.6 million Wal-Mart female workers, Carolyn Sapp found her mission. "You know what? This is abuse. It's not physical abuse, but it's emotional abuse. Its time we as consumers say: Wait a second. Why are we all supporting the wealthiest corporation in America if they don't treat their women with dignity?" Sapp found a good use for her beauty pageant crown. "If I can use the Miss America title to entice people to learn about this, and to educate them, then it's OK. There's a good use to the Miss American title."

My kinda beauty queen.

[Tejas]

22. So........you hate Walmart, you go girl!

Not sure what your ramblings about union-busting in Canada have to do with firearms policies in the USA,



but you're doing a fine job!

[iverglas]

23. huh

I wonder what some beauty queen having a pistol permit had to do with anything, myself.

I'll bet Sarah Palin has one too. Oh, that's right, they don't need those things in Alaska, do they?

[rangersmith82]

4. Excellent post!!!

Lets get this recommended for the greatest page!!!!

only for more votes!!

[iverglas]

7. monkey scribbles

I finally got that one.

"Only for more votes". All I could think of was the title of the self-published book of poetry written by my great-grandfather's sister's husband's brother's son: "Only for Lust" (not quite the real title; the real one actually comes from Shakespeare, the original, not the Monkey version).

I paid money for it. Herewith, a sample, my personal favourite:

THE FOOL
Death touched me with his fleshless claw,
I was calm and unrebuffed,
And when the Blue Bird flew my way,
I tried to have it stuffed.


and to ring out the old year:

THE POET'S SONG

I've had full measure of laughter and leisure,
Of Pride and Passion, Poetry and Pleasure,
Now let me drink the lees ;
Sorrow can take me, sift me and shake me,
Beat me and break me, or mould me and make me,
What she may please ;
That which remains of me, losses and gains of me,
Bruises and Pains of me, Bondage and chains of me,
All these I throw ;
Since there's an ending of loving and lending,
Giving and spending, and joyous pretending,
Much better be so ;
Vanished the best of me, gallant protest of me,
Dreaming and jest of me, music and zest of me,
Faith, Hope and Trust ;
Not a ray in me of what was gay in me,
Springtime and May in me, Elfin and fay in me,
Crumbled to dust.
For what is great of me, pity the state of me,
Heaviness, Hate of me, Sorrow the mate of me,
Freezing my blood.
Songs still unsung in me, Life hot and young in me,
And the Soul that was flung in me,
Ashes and mud.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. K&R for no other reason than to annoy the ignored guy

He's irrelevant anyway

[iverglas]

8. they're funny

despite themselves.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

13. Whats that? I can't hear you.

You have been ignored.

[iverglas]

15. "You have been ignored."

You seem to be speaking to yourself.

Or perhaps you intended to speak to someone else, thereby rather obviously not ignoring him/her.

Either way ...

[Statistical]

9. KICK & REC. Nice compliation. (n/t)

[michreject]

12. Truer words were never spoken

OFFICER "I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT"
ANALYSIS: Shooting his mouth off - and shooting Newark in the foot

New Jersey has really tough gun laws - and at least one cop in Newark's PD who thinks this gives him more leeway to bully and assault innocent civilians. Like the cameraman from a regional CBS affiliate that he put in a chokehold and arrested simply for filming a protest by family members who lost loved ones to violent crime involving guns. Yes, the out-of-control officer got suspended by the force, but his actions serve as a definitive wake-up call to the rest of America - when your Second Amendment rights go bye-bye, your First Amendment rights are next. Whatever happened to To Serve and To Protect?

[iverglas]

16. ah, maybe I get it

If that cop had only been facing "armed civilians" ...

The brain never ceases to be boggled.

[michreject]

17. Don't cloud it up so much

and you can see things a lot cleared.

And no, your cloudy head is because of nothing I wrote.

[rangersmith82]

18. Its scary, I have to agree with you

Guns at a peaceful protest are bad.

[Joe Steel]

19. Are you suggesting...?

Yes, the out-of-control officer got suspended by the force, but his actions serve as a definitive wake-up call to the rest of America - when your Second Amendment rights go bye-bye, your First Amendment rights are next.

Are you suggesting the cop should have been shot?

[derby378]

20. All I'm suggesting...

...is that if the cop is trained to think of you as a fellow citizen and as an equal, rather than one of the disarmed teeming masses, he just might think twice before doing something that portrays his department as not giving a damn about the populace they are supposed to serve.

We trust law enforcement to, well, uphold the law. We have no room for Judge Dredd types as policemen - show me a truly suitable candidate for Judge Dredd, and I'll show you someone who deserves a gavel instead of a badge.

[michreject]

21. Read what I have in bold

Then get back with me.

[iverglas]

24. I really think you need to say what you mean

What you have said is essentially meaningless. Why not spit out the mealies and spit it out?

[michreject]

26. No confusion with this

when your Second Amendment rights go bye-bye, your First Amendment rights are next.

[iverglas]

25. cops I've known

-- senior management and senior union officials -- hate the whole "special constable" thing.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/newark_special_police_officer.html

Monday October 27, 2008, 8:32 PM

Newark police said today they suspended a special police officer who had arrested a Channel 2 news cameraman and put him in a chokehold while he was filming a demonstration on Sunday.

... Sharif is a 12-year veteran of the special police, whose officers are trained and can be disciplined by the Newark police but have a separate command structure.

They are available for hire by public agencies and private groups and on Sunday were working for the church that sponsored the demonstration, said Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Booker said in a news conference that both he and Police Director Garry McCarthy were troubled by what they saw on the video and were planning appropriate action. He said McCarthy was "fit to be tied" when he heard what had happened.

Not exactly the "police". And yet another reason for reconsidering the use of "special" police. They are inadequately trained, inadequately screened (the cops I have known regarded them as wannabes, generally the worst candidates for this sort of work), and inadequately overseen.

I really don't know what an incident involving an individual special police officer is supposed to prove about anything at all, except that special police officers are a bad idea.


edit: And wouldn't it really have been honest to clarify the circumstances of this incident, as above?

If the secondary sources where it might have been found didn't, surely research to find a primary source, as I did in about 10 seconds, would have been wise.