First from the Fred File on New York and the Second Amendment:
When I was working in television, I spent quite a bit of time in New York City. There are lots of things about the place I like, but New York gun laws don’t fall in that category.
Anybody who knows me knows I’ve always cared deeply about the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. So I’ve always felt sort of relieved when I flew back home to where that particular civil liberty gets as much respect as the rest of the Bill of Rights.
Unfortunately, New York is trying, again, to force its ways on the rest of us, this time through the courts. First, they went after U.S. gun manufacturers, seeking through a lawsuit not only money but injunctive control over the entire industry. An act of congress in 2005 blocked, but did not end, that effort.
Now, the same activist federal judge from Brooklyn who provided Mayor Giuliani’s administration with the legal ruling it sought to sue gun makers, has done it again. Last week, he created a bizarre justification to allow New York City to sue out-of-state gun stores that sold guns that somehow ended up in criminal hands in the Big Apple.
The lawsuit has been a lesson in out-of-control government from the get-go. Mayor Bloomberg sent private investigators to make “straw” purchases – illegally buying guns for somebody else. According to the ATF, NY’s illegal “stings” interfered with ongoing investigations of real gun traffickers.
Obviously, New York won’t get much cash out of the few dozen shops being sued in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia; so the purpose can only be political. Some of those sued have already buckled under the financial strain of legal defense and agreed to live by New York City rules.
Ironically, all of this comes at a time of historically low violent crime rates and historically high gun ownership rates nationally. States where it is legal to carry guns are also at an all-time high, up to 40 from 10 in 1987 by NRA reckoning.
While this attack by New York City on the Second Amendment reinforces the importance of appointing judges who apply the law as written, there is another important legal point. Federalism, though usually seen as a protection of the states from the federal government, actually grew out of the need to protect states from other states that interfered in free commerce beyond their borders – as New York is doing today. In this case, we need Federalism to protect states from a big bully in New York City.
The from the Examiner, Thompson speaks at the Veterans of Foreign Wars conference today:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Map, News) - The U.S. must rebuild its military to fight global terrorism because leaders "took a holiday" in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, undeclared presidential candidate Fred Thompson told war veterans Tuesday.
"Some people in this country think if we can pull out of Iraq, our problems will be over," Thompson told the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "You and I know better than that."
"Now we're stretched too thin, and our equipment is wearing out," said Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who is expected to announce a decision soon on whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination.
Like Sen. John McCain, who is seeking the nomination and spoke to the vets on Monday, Thompson said the United States should not pull out of Iraq.
After his speech, several VFW members urged Thompson to run.
"We're putting it together," he said. "It takes a little time."
Good for Fred on both counts. He understands and will help protect our right to bear arms and the second amendment and he knows that we must succeed in Iraq.
Next, Mitt Romeny blasts sanctuary cities for attracting illegal immigrants:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney Tuesday stepped up his ongoing attack on cities with what he calls sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants -- including rival Rudy Giuliani's home city -- with a new radio ad set to air in crucial campaign states Iowa and New Hampshire.
"Immigration laws don't work if they're ignored," the ad's announcer states. "That's the problem with cities like Newark, San Francisco and New York City that adopt sanctuary policies. Sanctuary cities become magnets that encourage illegal immigration and undermine secure borders."
"Legal immigration is great," Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, himself says in the ad. "But illegal immigration, that we've got to end. And amnesty is not the way to do it."
He also advocates in the ad cutting back on federal funds to cities that adopt sanctuary policies.
The hell with cutting back aid on sanctuary cities, they need to be cut off totally until they start complying with our laws.
Here is Mitt's new radio ad, via YouTube, 1 minute, short and sweet.
Last but not least, unrelated but it amused me so I am gonna show it here, go read Right Wing Nut House and see how the Truthers Got reamed by the History Channel.
In what will surely be seen as a defining moment for the 9/11 truther movement, the History Channel has delivered a blow for sanity and rationalism by airing a superior documentary entitled 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction.
There’s no other way to say it; the truthers got reamed.
They got reamed to the point that the truthers who produced the internet video Loose Change are scrambling to alter the third version of their conspiracy mongering tripe, even going so far as to drop any reference to the twin towers being blown up by the government (they continue to insist WTC #7 was brought down by explosives).
The documentary took no prisoners as it destroyed almost all of the major conspiracy theories associated with 9/11 while revealing the real motivations of the truthers; that they are part of a political movement driven by raw, unreasoning hatred of George Bush, the American government, and to some extent, America itself.
Prominently featured were historians like David Brinkley, Editor in Chief of Popular Mechanics James Meigs, and structural engineers, explosives experts, and a host of scientists, military experts, and eyewitnesses to the disaster. The cumulative effect of the testimony of the anti-conspiracists was absolutely devastating. The show left little doubt of the unhinged nature of the truthers, showing many of them – including radio host Alex Jones who has given vast amounts of air time to every kook, crazy, and nutcase with a theory on 9/11 – looking like the anti-intellectual fruitcakes they truly are.
The format was perfect. A truther would lay out a conspiracy theory which was then immediately debunked by 2 or 3 experts. Over two hours, a couple of dozen myths associated with 9/11 were laid to rest permanently including the “missile” that hit the Pentagon, the shoot down of Flight 93, the “implosion” of the towers,” and other theories not based on fact.
Wonder what Rosie has to say now, huh?
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