Snowflakes in Hell

I don’t know if y’all have noticed, but Obama really enjoys coming to the Philadelphia area. He’s here often enough that when Sebastian complains about all the cops out when he drives to or from work, we can safely assume that Obama is here.

I think I just figured out why that is. It’s not because the City of Brotherly Love is showed him so much love in the last election (in the form of men armed with batons blocking polling places). It’s because the stench of Democratic corruption must remind him of Chicago.

For those who have forgotten, Obama won his first campaign unopposed. Which is interesting considering there was a sitting Democratic incumbent who did not retire. He challenged all of her signatures to get her thrown off the ballot – along with any other competitors.

The intriguing campaign I mentioned yesterday is facing a similar problem. Only instead of her being an incumbent, she’s a political newbie who has no shot of winning the overwhelmingly Democratic district represented by the head of the Philadelphia Democratic Party. But he wants her off the ballot anyway. There’s no room for anyone else once you factor in his ego, I suppose.

Only a politician can call for a gun ban on Friday night and then sign on to speak at a pro-liberty shooting event hosted at a gun club on Tuesday and not see the hypocrisy.

As we’ve mentioned, Jack Wagner said he supported a ban on semi-automatic rifles on Friday night at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit. This afternoon, the Commonwealth Foundation posted a Facebook listing for their annual LiveFreePA fundraiser. Guess who confirmed his attendance? Jack Wagner. To his credit, he’s the only Democrat who is on their confirmed speakers list. To his discredit, he’d ban the guns that the members of the host club use regularly.

The House Speaker, that is.

It reads like a dream order for a wild frat party: Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey … and Corona beer.

But that single receipt makes up just part of the more than $101,000 taxpayers paid for “in-flight services” – including food and liquor, for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trips on Air Force jets over the last two years. That’s almost $1,000 per week.

I could use a spare bottle of Grey Goose if she’s got a bottle (or even half!) laying around. I just got our sampler of vanilla beans from around the world in, and now the 2 cups of extract I planned to make aren’t going to be nearly enough.

While people were concerned about the holidays, it would seem the New Hampshire legislature secretly ran through a ban on firearms in the state house. Any legislation passed this time of year is done in the hopes that people are too busy with the holidays to pay any attention. Seems that’s been happening a lot lately. Also out of fashion: reading bills, debating bills, and transparency with the public.

Obama is calling on banks to call off their lobbyists:

President Obama got tough on financial services chiefs in a meeting Monday and said he now expects those executives to tell their lobbyists and trade associations that they support financial services reform.

That’s funny, I seem to recall some amendment somewhere in the constitution mentioning something about a right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Maybe that doesn’t appear in Obama’s copy.

Then again, take the King’ shilling… and I seem to recall the financial services community donating heavily in favor of Obama, so maybe I shouldn’t really feel sorry for them. This is what you voted for, suckers.

Obama gives himself a B+ for his first year in office.

Apparently food donations go to waste in New York City because of the trans-fat ban. It continues to amaze me that 150 or so mayors in Pennsylvania think it’s just peachy to associate with this power hungry monster.

Obama’s record of appointing cabinet members with private sector experience is the lowest of any President in recent memory.

UPDATE: Looks like it’s got some factual issues. The original source is J.P. Morgan, so they will need to clarify methodology.

Baltimore is creating school zones out of thin air in order to install traffic cameras to raise revenue for the cash strapped city:

The city’s plan is to take a number of roads that are within the legally required distance to a school but are in areas where children do not regularly walk. Baltimore will install “school zone” signs on these roads for the sole purpose of meeting the legal requirement that the speed cameras be used only in a school zone. The new zones include Charles Street at Lake Avenue, Northern Parkway at Greenspring, Pulaski Highway at Monument Street and Roland Avenue at West Cold Spring.

I agree with this bloggers take on these zones being detrimental to public safety.

Red light cameras.

Take a look at Countertop’s coverage of the White House visitor log. I for one am glad we elected such a centrist and measured President. Such a sharp, sharp contrast from that extremist Bush.

Senator Carl Levin tells President Obama we need more gun control…. for the children.

I am very pleased with your record on the Second Amendment. Really. I appreciate it. You’re a true leader on the issue, which is more than you can say for a lot of reps. But man, on other issues, you talk like you just escaped from the insane asylum.

Is it smart politics to be the only State Representative to vote against Domestic Violence Prevention month? Because of some imagined gay agenda? Is it smart politics to call veterans who don’t agree with you traitors? And then doubling down?

No, it isn’t, and it makes it much harder for Second Amendment advocates to defend you. Why give your political enemies this kind of ammunition to use against you? What constituency are you hoping to please with this nonsense?

Get serious. Otherwise we’re not going to be able to defend you next time you’re politically vulnerable. Which may be very soon if this crap keeps up.

I wish this Dilbert were a joke, but things really do work this way.

The Vice President was in town tonight, to attend a fundraiser for Arlen Specter. Word on Twitter spread there was going to be some protesting across the street at our local supermarket, so we hopped in the car and drove on down.

Bitter was carrying a sign, and I was documenting the whole thing on Twitter. I am not much of a protester, and don’t particularly enjoy attracting attention to myself, so I mostly lurked in the background taking pictures, and tweeted the event. Midway through, I wished I had a giant inflatable pig, because really, what protest is complete without a giant inflatable pig? Just think of the possibilities!

This was an easy affair for the Vice President. Pop in, stick your foot in your mouth, and pop out. What was amusing for us was that the venue for this Dem fundraising shindig is at the local caterers that Bitter and I constantly make fun of when we go to the supermarket. It is straight out of the 1970s, and I don’t think has seen much renovation since. Certainly not a place you’d expect a fancy Dem fundraiser. I think they had to clear out to make way for Spinal Tap, which was playing the venue after Joe.

I am pleased to mention that anti-administration protesters outnumbered pro-administration protesters by a ratio of about 10 to 1 at the height of the protest. That was our 10, to their one. I can’t even say their one had a sign that was all that pro-administration, since Obama seems to want both healthcare and warfare. He hasn’t exactly left Iraq and Afghanistan in a hurry, lady. Though perhaps he’s about to change that. She was very nice and cordial, and I was friendly, waved, and smiled. Her beef was that she had to pay 1000 dollars a month for health care for her and her daughter. I am sympathetic. I have to pay 1600 dollars a month for a mortgage for a house to put a roof over Bitter and I. Affordable housing is a right, isn’t it? So naturally the solution is for taxpayers to make my mortgage payments for me, right? I mean, it’s the fair thing to do.

At the end of the day, Bitter was happy that Biden, on his way out, was looking at her, and her sign. Granted it was through several layers of ballistic glass, but it was definitely him. For the curious, I did not attend the protest armed. I know, I know. Some people will suggest I am the Brady Campaign’s bitch by leaving my guns at home, but did not know, being just across the street from the Vice President, what the Secret Service reaction would be if they made me. I figured between the Secret Service, the State Police, and three local police departments, there were plenty of guns around to protect everybody. If the S was going to HTF, I don’t think they would have appreciating me trying to play a starring role in that drama.

Bitter was happy to feel like she stuck it to the man, or at least the Joe, just a little. I was sad I did not have an inflatable pig. Maybe next time.

Campaigning against Jersey City Mayor Healy. So much for law enforcement being on the said of the MAIG mayors eh? Look who paid for the ad.

There are apparently 75 votes in the House of Representatives for organizations that promote child prostitution.  But I can’t get a repeal of the Hughes Amendment on the table because it’s too radical?   Something is very very wrong in Washington.  Apparently there are at least three Democrats in Pennsylvania’s delegation who think taxpayer money funding child prostitution rings is just peachy.   They are Bob Brady, Mike Doyle, and Chakka Fattah.  I am very glad no Republicans went along with this crap.  I guess it’s easier to hold the anti-paedophilia coalition together with Mark Foley out of Congress.

I have to sympathize with Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH), faced with an upset constituent, who is pretty clearly taken in by the birther nonsense, presumably tries to get rid of her by whispering “I agree with you, but the courts don’t.”  It’s one of the faults of politicians that they want everyone to like them.  But that’s not an excuse for endorsing this kind of garbage.

I don’t like the guy any more than the birthers do.  I took several days off from work, gave up weekends for two months to work gun shows, hit more than a few neighborhood in this county knocking on doors, went to area clubs, and made God knows how many phone calls to try to keep this guy from getting elected.  And all this for John McCain, who a year prior I swore I would never vote for, let alone work to get elected.  But we lost.  Barack Obama is the legitimate President of the United States.  Let’s concentrate on undoing that. Then we don’t have to worry about what’s on his birth certificate.

Looks like the White House’s green jobs advisor has quite a past:

A declared “communist” during the 1990s, Jones once associated with a group that looked to Mao Zedong as an inspiration.

And here I am worried that right-wing fringe groups might turn away independents and moderate Democrats.

Thirdpower points to some campaign flyers for candidates in Illinois that are basically trying to scare voters into thinking machine guns are legal in Illinois (they aren’t) and that clearly we need to ban them.

At best, Representative Kathy Ryg is completely ignorant about what she proposes to regulate, and at worst is lying and deliberately misleading her constituents.

Everyone remembers these imagine from the 2004 election that some say ruined Kerry’s shot at the presidency.  Looks like Obama is looking for his John Kerry moment now.  And really, we were harder on Kerry than we should be have been, because Kerry actually was a hunter and a gun owner, he was just a gun owner and bird hunter who supports gun control.  I doubt Obama has spent much time fishing, and I’d be surprised if he knew what to do with a fish if he caught it.  This should prove to be awkward.

As constituents, we should be thankful that Arlen Specter has consented to gracing us with his presence:

He forgets who it is he works for.

… that runs on hypocrisy.  If they did, I think Congress really could solve our energy problems.

Cemetery defines a financial instrument that’s very common in New Jersey politics.

I called both Senators Casey & Specter. (If you follow my Twitter feed, you’ll have read my frustration & praise.) Shortly thereafter, our phone rang and it was a phone bank system. NRA ordered up a phone bank here in Pennsylvania calling for action for both Casey & Specter on the Thune/Vitter amendment.

If you haven’t called yet, call tonight and tomorrow morning!

Just because I know you guys will be interested, I’ll tell you about my fun exchange with Sen. Specter’s office. This isn’t word-for-word, but the information is all accurate.

Intern: Sen. Specter’s Office, please hold.
Bitter: *holding* *holding* *holding* *holding* Phone dies after 10 minutes on hold. *redialing from landline* busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy
Intern: Sen. Specter’s Office, please hold.
Bitter: Actually, you left me on hold so long before that my phone died. I’d rather not, thank you.
Intern: Uh…One second please.
Chipper Staffer: Sen. Specter’s Office, how can I help you?
Bitter: Can you tell me how the Senator plans to vote on the Thune Amendment for national reciprocity of concealed carry licenses?
Chipper Staffer: I’m sorry, the Senator hasn’t issued a statement on that topic yet.
Bitter: The vote is tomorrow.
Chipper Staffer: I can take a note for how you’d like him to vote.
Bitter: We’re two active NRA members, and we have been in touch with many sportsmen’s clubs around Bucks County about political issues. We want him to vote yes. If he does, regardless of political challenges he may be facing next year, it would make it more likely we can stand behind him.
Chipper Staffer: Okay, thanks!
Bitter: Um, I’d like a written response, please.
Not-Quite-as-Chipper Staffer: I’m sorry, we don’t offer written responses to phone calls. We just have no way to track them.
Bitter: I’m a constituent who happens to have done the Congressional internship thing a few years ago. I know you have software to do it. I know how it works.
Really-Not-as-Chipper Staffer: It’s office policy that we don’t respond to phone calls. You can mail us a letter if you want one.
Bitter: I’m a constituent, and the rest of my household would appreciate the courtesy of a response.
Definitely-No-Longer-Chipper Staffer: Look, it’s just office policy. We don’t respond to constituents who call. You’ll have to write in order to receive a written response.
Bitter: Thanks, I’ll make sure and let the other constituents know that. I appreciate the information.
Uh-Oh Staffer: Wait, I’m sorry, it really is just office policy. We just get so many phone calls. It’s very busy and we just don’t have time.
Really-Sneaky-Sounding Bitter: Well, thank you for the information about responses, I’ll make sure to share the information.
Unsure Staffer: Have a good day!?!?

I cannot believe that he set an office policy not to respond to constituents who call! The software I used when I did the internship was so easy to use. It didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to get the topic, ask if they had a bill number, get the up or down vote information, and take notes on the caller. At the end of the day, the information input from phone calls and letters was printed out, sorted, and handled as appropriate. If it was a simple “vote yes” kind of request, the staff had typically already done form letters on the relevant topics of the day for both sides. If they had, the letter was sent. If not, they would then create one. It’s really not that hard. Not to mention, it weeded out the constituent calls from the non-constituents.

On the contrary, when I called Sen. Bob Casey’s office, it was tough to get in touch. I tried DC, but the voicemail was full and there were busy signals. I tried his Philly office, but their phone line seemed to be acting up. I tried the Harrisburg office, and the staffer was friendly and helpful. She checked to make sure he hadn’t said anything on the topic during the afternoon, she said they didn’t have an easy process for responding by letter to phone calls, but she was more than happy to take my name and address to have someone get back to me. I told her that I appreciated it, and that it was a stark contrast to the other PA senator’s office. I also thanked her and also let her know that a member of our household was active in a large gun club, and hoped we looked forward to reporting good things about Senator Casey in the future. She also said she would look into the problems with the Philadelphia office phones. At the very least, that’s constituent service, even if I disagree with his vote.