Snowflakes in Hell

Looks like Seamus McCaffery has won his party’s bid to get elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Who is he, you might ask? He’s the judge for Eagles Court.

Seamus P. McCaffery, who we all know from his days banging the gavel at the hilariously necessary Eagles Court at the Vet, received enough votes yesterday to win a nomination to the PA Supreme Court. You may have heard radio spots on the sports talk stations from former Sixers President Pat Croce endorsing his Honor, who was born in Ireland and spent many years as a Philly cop. Despite McCaffery’s Eagles ties, Gov. Ed Rendell backed another guy, who didn’t make the cut.

Looks like Pat Croce’s endorsement is worth more than the Governor’s. For those of you who are outside Philadelphia, or don’t know of the reputation our sports fan have, Eagles Court was set up in the stadium itself, because there were so many problems, it was easier just to process rowdy fans there. Even our own Governor used to be known for allegedly betting people 20 dollars they couldn’t pelt the opposing team with snowballs from the 700 level.

I have to agree with this editorial.

Fewer districts makes it more difficult and more expensive for individuals to run for state representative and state senator, which arguably leads to a representative body more remote and out of touch with the citizenry. While many Pennsylvanians, as well as this editorial page, have been put off by the excesses perpetrated by our representatives and senators, we aren’t convinced that the wrongs committed had anything to do with the size of the Legislature.

I have to agree that I don’t think the size of the legislature is a problem.  I think we might want to consider a part time body though, like Virginia, and many other states.  Having fewer reps doesn’t really excite me, but I figure the less they all work, the better off we’ll be.

I’ve been largely ignoring editorials calling for more gun control in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, because, quite frankly, I can’t believe a month later they are still using this tragedy as a springboard to try to convince the public that all we need is more gun control. This one comes from Peter Durantine in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Do we fear doing something to change? Has the NRA convinced us more guns are the answer? Do we really value a firearm over life? Is a gun really essential to our freedom and way of life?

Regardless of what anyone says, this nation was not forged by firearms and blood - it was formed on ideas. And ideas and ideals are what make great nations.

How can you even take this stuff seriously? Let alone seriously enough to print it. How about this little exercise. Some street urchin decides to put a gun to your head and demand your wallet. Now, start thinking up the idea in your head that if you don’t turn over your wallet, even if the robber pulled the trigger, it won’t splatter your brains all over the sidewalk. Feel comfortable with the idea of risking him pulling the trigger? No? Congratulations, you’ve just learned how power works.

Our country is what is is not just because of ideas, but because men believed in those ideas so much that they were willing to fight and die for them. Ideas themselves mean nothing if people aren’t willing to fight for them. Whether that idea is that we want to live in a free constitutional republic, or that our lives and the lives of those around us are worth defending, those ideas have no meaning without men with guns willing to do violence to preserve them.

… on firearms, says Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco.  After he lost in court over his first set of common sense restrictions, total gun prohibition on the sale of guns in the city, and a total prohibition entirely of handguns, he’s at it again:

Mayor Gavin Newsom quietly introduced a package of gun control measures on Tuesday that would make it illegal to possess guns on city-owned property and require residents to store handguns in locked containers.

But, even some of the legislation’s co-sponsors conceded the proposals will have little effect on the proliferation of illegal guns on San Francisco streets.

When even the supports admit it won’t really do anything, why pass it?  Can someone explain to me how I’m suppose to have  reasonable dialog with someone who has this kind of mentality?

This article on Gazette.net is a great example of why there can’t be any reasonable dialog with anti-gun people:

‘‘We want to open the dialogue,” Lucas said. ‘‘It seems that no one wants to talk about this. I’d like to see action by our legislators that really reflect the will of the people.”

Sevier insisted the demonstration was not an anti-gun rally and that it included people of all political stripes. However, she said she personally would like to see new laws requiring background checks for people who want to buy handguns and a ban on semi-automatic weapons.

‘‘We are not anti-gun,” she said. ‘‘We just want there to be reasonable regulations on who can have a gun in this country.”

No, we’re not anti-gun at all. You’re all just paranoid! If this woman gets her way, my collection will be exactly four guns, and ironically, the four they won’t get are my two most powerful rifles, my shotgun, and the most powerful pistol I own.

They at least admit to not being experts on guns control, and clearly they know nothing about our guns laws or guns themselves, so the real question is why anyone would pay any attention to what they have to say?

Pennsylvanians have overwhelmingly said no to Act 1, the latest property tax reduction scam scheme to come out of Harrisburg. My school district, Neshaminy, rejected it more than 2 to 1. In a demonstration of why your vote really does count, Bristol passed the Act 1 measure by ONE vote.  One commenter on a local paper states:

The message we are sending to Harrisburg is that we don’t trust you. We were supposed to get real estate tax relief from the slots pallors. Now you way we will give you that relief if we ok a new tax. No thanks boys and girls your word is no longer any good with us.

Amen!

Apparently during today’s election, Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox’s headquarters was robbed by a gunman:

Two armed gunmen robbed a Knox campaign office in the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue. Police say the robbers were wearing red “Knox for Mayor” t-shirts when they entered the office.

Investigators say one robber showed a gun in his waistband and demanded money from the workers.

I guess if you’re a criminal, it’s safer to rob the campaign headquarters of a candidate has steadfastly supported gun control, than it would be to risk that the guy you pick off the street might be one of the 32,000 people in the city with a license to carry a concealed pistol. 32,000 in a city that size are still pretty good odds, but it would have been a pretty sure bet that no one in Knox’s campaign was strapped.