Snowflakes in Hell

This is great!

The New York Daily News reported Thursday that Michael Battle, director of the executive office for United States Attorneys at the Department of Justice, sent the letter warning Bloombe rg’s administration that it could face “potential legal liabilities” if such sting operations continue. Battle also said the Justice Department will not be filing criminal charges against any of the 15 gun dealers targeted by Bloomberg’s 2006 lawsuits over alleged “straw man” purchases. Such operations lack “proper law enforcement authority,” Battle’s letter stated.

UPDATE: Original NYDN article here

According to a letter sent to City Hall, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and various U.S. attorneys’ offices have determined the city’s findings against the 15 dealers “do not rise to a level that would support a criminal prosecution.”

Great right? Well, maybe not:

Asked if the Bloomberg administration plans to stop conducting the sting operations, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said, “Not necessarily.”

“The city hasn’t violated any laws,” Skyler said defiantly, adding that the city will continue to pursue its civil lawsuits against the gun dealers.

I think the ATF needs to start arresting people if they try this stunt again. Starting with Bloomberg. It would seem hs administration isn’t taking this letter as fair warning.

Anyone who thinks Nancy Pelosi cares about the environment or global warming is kidding themselves.  We’ve all heard about her request for a C-32 (Boeing 757) aircraft for her own personal use.  Her claim now is:

Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized jet. Pelosi and her aides say that because her congressional district is in California, her security would require a larger plane that can fly coast to coast without refueling.

“It’s not a question of size, it’s a question of distance,” Pelosi said Wednesday. “We want an aircraft that can reach California.”

You are so full of crap you reek, Nancy.  The Air Force has several other more economical options, if you bothered to look, that have the range to make it to California unrefueled.   But you probably did look didn’t you?   You just want the C-32, because you’re Nancy Pelosi.  Well, screw you.  It’s my tax money that makes those birds fly, and as far as I’m concerned, your staffers and VIPs can fly commercial.

I barely buy the security argument that justifies Pelosi flying on air force jets.  But if it’s going to happen, she can do with a lesser plane.  If the C-21 was good enough for hauling Denny Hastert’s fat ass around, as far as I’m concerned, it’s good enough for Nancy Pelosi too.

Looks like the GOP has ponied up Al Taubenberger to run for Philadelphia Mayor.

City Councilman Frank Rizzo, a Republican who had considered a mayoral run on either party’s ticket, said yesterday that he expected Taubenberger to be the nominee. Rizzo said he backed off his own bid because “we have a good candidate in Al Taubenberger, who I’ll be working for, and on the Democratic side, we have some capable candidates also.”

The city’s registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 5-1, and most GOP leaders concede that a mayoral victory is a long shot. No Republican mayor has been elected since 1947.

Anyone who knows Philadelphia knows the Rizzo name, but I don’t know much about Taubenberger, and we probably won’t get to know much about him, because, as the article says, the GOP has a snowballs chance in hell of winning the race.   Of course, no one thought a Republican could win in New York City either, but they elected Giuliani (I don’t count Bloomberg. He’s a lifelong Democrat riding on Rudy’s coattails).  I may have my issues with Giuliani as President, but he was a great mayor of New York City.  Philadelphia is long overdue for it’s own Giuliani.  Sadly, this guy probably ain’t it.

Apparently the City of Philadelphia is considering its own ban on trans-fat, modeled after that of New York.

Major food retailers such as Starbucks and Kentucky Fried Chicken have banned trans fats. Trans-fat oil, associated with bad cholesterol, is scheduled to be eliminated in New York City by July. A proposed New Jersey ban on trans-fats in restaurants has remained in a legislative committee since October. Philadelphia’s City Council is scheduled to vote today on the fate of fryer oil in restaurants and food carts.

The article is mostly about local universities removing trans-fats from their cafeterias, which I’m all for. I have no issues with restaurants and food service providers removing them voluntarily, through market forces. Apparently my alma mater is getting in on this too:

Drexel University, which also contracts with Sodexho, switched to trans-fat-free oil in January 2006. In addition to its bread, tortillas and cookies, the school will get trans-fat-free doughnuts and cakes, said Marie Faherty, resident district manager for Sodexho there.

Dan Steinberg, Drexel’s Student Government president and a senior graphic-design major, said he hadn’t noticed a change in the food’s taste.

“A lot of that is a mental thing. I’ve been a resident assistant for three years, and coming down here with my residents, the food gets better every year,” he said.

The food is getting better every year? This isn’t the Drexel I went to! When I went, they still had 32nd street open and lots of artery clogging street vendor food, which is where most of us ate. The cafeteria was known as the “all you can stomach” plan, since if you signed up, you could eat as much as you wanted to, but who wanted to? Now, the street vendors are gone, and the cafeteria is serving tasty food with no trans-fats? Crazy.

Vince Fumo, long time State Senator from Phiadelphia, is facing 139 felony indictments from a federal grand jury.

The feds said Fumo, 63, one of the state’s most influential power brokers, used his Senate workers to clean his house and provide personal services, and tapped a charity he helped organize to provide him with cars, tools and other goodies.

The charges include conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return.

If convicted of all charges, Fumo, a state senator since 1978, could face from five to 15 years behind bars, sources said.

That’s a lot of time, but if found guilty, I hope he serves it all. When I speak of getting criminals off the streets of Philadelphia, it would seem that includes a fair number of their politicians. Maybe that’s why they would rather disarm us than lock up criminals. It would mean locking up too many of their own.

I should point out that Fumo was one of the Philly politicians that had close ties with the NRA (yes, there are some pro-gun politicians in the city), but corrupt politicians can go to hell, no matter how much they might agree with me on other issues. 139 felony indictments is no laughing matter. We’ll see how this plays out in the federal courts.

Chris Byrne asks, “Who’s at Fault for the M16?”

Actually, much of why McNamara made the decision, was because he was supremely pissed off at the Army Ordnance board at their deception (and they were continuing to insist the trials were legitimate even after the report came out). McNamara felt that he needed to force the board to heel.

Initially the AOB absolutely refused McNamaras order that the M16 be adopted. McNamara forced the AOB by direct order to retry the weapon, with ARPA as an overeseeing agency. The board dickered so much, and insisted on so many changes to the rifle; in fact saying that even with the changes it was unsuitable; that McNamara ordered that they adopt the M16 as is, with no changes, anyway.

Those changes were actually rather important; including the chrome bore, the forward assist, and a different twist rate for the rifling. They would later be implemented in the M16A1 (and later revisions); but because of the boards hostility with McNamara, they were not put into the intial production models as issued.

After McNamara overruled the board completely, they went about deliberately making sure the M16 would fail; because they wanted it to be a spectacular disaster, so they could go back to the M14 and give McNamara a black eye.

Great post!  Be sure to go read the whole thing.

We’ve been having a rash of robberies in a neighboring township.

At an Exxon station near the 7-11, a thief recently made off with $1,000s and beating a clerk with a hammer.

In the 7-11 robbery, the clerk opened the door for the robber, which is normally locked due to several recent robberies. The camera captured the suspect hurdling the counter and brandishing what police said was a 6 inch revolver.

The suspect grabbed about $100 in cash before shooting the clerk and running away.

“As he is moving to the back of the store, he shoots him in the back, the bullet goes through his back and ends up being lodged in his chest,” said Lt. MacPherson.

I don’t live in a high crime area, but this highlights the importance of not getting complacent.  Given this guy has beaten one clerk with a hammer, and shot another, if I happen to be in a store when a robbery goes down, after reading this, I’m not giving the robber the benefit of doubt.  It’s important that we all be prepared, and carry at all times we’re legally able to. Even in normally quiet neighborhoods, you can attract the criminal element.

A ranch or cabin in the middle of nowhere is really starting to look like a more attractive option than living anywhere near New York City.  From Slashdot:

New York State Senator Carl Kruger is looking to institute a $100 fine for using electronic gadgets while crossing the street. Citing three pedestrian deaths in his Brooklyn district as the main driving reason he believe Government has an obligation to protect its citizens.

That’s three people who won’t be able to pass their defective street crossing genes onto future generations.  My mother always taught me to look both ways before crossing the street.  When I was in college and commuted to school via rail, and listened to headphones, I knew to take them off and listen for the Amtrak trains that zoomed past a 100MPH before crossing the tracks.  Of course, today you can’t do that, because they put up fences to stop you.  You have to go the long way around now, whether you want to risk it or not.

I have one basic philosophy when it comes to my relationship with governemnt: leave me the hell alone.   I’ll pay my taxes, leave other people to their quiet enjoyment of life, serve in the military if called on, do jury duty, and all those things we have to do as part of a society.  But don’t start looking out after me.  I can do that just fine on my own.  If I want to cross the street while talking on a cell phone and risk getting hit by a bus, that’s my damned business.  Life is risky, and sometimes people make bad choices.  There’s nothing government can, or should, do about that.