In the news (summary)

• Parole Leads to Death
• How NYC Elections are Run
• Mandatory Gun Ownership
• Chicago Homicides Fall – but why?
• UN(american) Arms Treaty
• (Im)Probable Cause

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Early release “clerical error” leads to another murdered victim…

“Leon’s mother-in-law, Bernadette Alness, told KUSA that someone should “stand up and be accountable.””

I truly believe that if parole boards were responsible in someway for the crimes those they release committed. We’d have far less violent crime in this nation.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/02/justice/colorado-ebel-prison-records/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Oops he didn’t have to serve his two sentence consectutively. Remind me, if I am ever sentenced. I want a 1 week sentence. Followed by whatever ever other sentence….because then I won’t have to serve it consecutively.  Seriously?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/2/colorado-courts-face-review-after-mistakenly-setti/
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How New York elections are won…. “BRIBERY”

http://news.yahoo.com/two-charged-bribe-probe-related-york-mayors-race-124807777.html
(Remember, a scandal is nothing more than a politicians normal daily activities revealed to the public.)
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Mandotory Gun Checks – no, not background checks. 
But Nelson, Georgia has passed a law requiring that all its citizens be armed (or at least the heads of household).

http://news.yahoo.com/ga-city-council-votes-require-gun-ownership-003042709.html
[Note it bears no penalties, and exempts felons, handicapped (physical or mental), and anyone who objects.]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/02/us/georgia-gun-requirement/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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Chicago homicides plumet (28% drop in the past six months)
http://news.yahoo.com/march-homicides-drop-dramatically-chicago-003154243.html

Question, is this due to?

a) When you’re as high as Chicago’s homicide rate, it’s hard to maintain that reputation consistently. Even Chicago’s gonna have a down quarter or two.

b) A change in how Chicago reports homicides… (“woman over there says it was a drive by,…mark it as a suicide recruit”)

c) McDonald vs Chicago – hey criminals, Chicago residents may be armed now…

d) Winter…burr…even the criminals stayed in doors this winter.
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UN(american) approves first global arms trade treaty

“first treaty on global arms trade that seeks to regulate the $70 billion international business in conventional arms, ranging from light weapons to battle tanks and warships.”

“The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States, the world’s biggest arms trader, reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty.”

Yes, the election of President Obama does jeopardize our freedoms.

“Its specific language recognizes the “legitimate trade and lawful ownership, and use of certain conventional arms for recreational, cultural, historical and sporting activities.”

But not “self-defense”, no recognition of that right. The NRA is right to object to this treaty.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-overwhelmingly-approves-first-ever-global-arms-155542094.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/un-approves-global-arms-treaty/2013/04/02/66867b2e-9bb7-11e2-9bda-edd1a7fb557d_story.html

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Scroll down to the “Gun Laws Around the World” – there is NO PLACE like America.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/un-adopts-arms-treaty-global-weapons-trade_n_2999505.html#slide=1349562

 

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Improbable Cause

Couple growing some tomatoes and such using an indoor hydroponics system finds themselves the victim of a SWAT raid. Turns out the couple was already well vetted by the Federal government, having worked prior for the CIA and having undergone an extensive background check. 

“During the sweep, the court filing said, the Hartes were told they had been under surveillance for months, but the couple “know of no basis for conducting such surveillance nor do they believe such surveillance would have produced any facts supporting the issuance of a search warrant.””

Isn’t this ALWAYS the case with this “mis-raids”, the individuals are supposedly under surveillance for month.  Seriously HOW !@#$% DUMB ARE OUR POLICE GETTING IF THEY CAN SPEND MONTHS OBSERVING AND NOT GET IT RIGHT!!!!  I know some good officers, please tell me WHAT is going on in the police hiring these days that these are the results we’re seeing as of late.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/kansas-couple-indoor-gardening-prompted-pot-raid-18841347

That Constitution thing, yes, that historical document. Does it have ANY meaning at all today? Our government is sending SWAT teams without cause, Federal government is listening to all our phone calls, reading all of our emails. Okay with drone assasinations of U.S. citizens, apparently on U.S. soil before Senator Rand Paul raised a fuss.

 

 

Vote and Win (a Glock)

A Georgia outfitter is apparently advertising a Get out the Vote campaign with a chance to win a Glock (wish a FFL near me was doing this, is it too late to change my voter registration?)

http://news.yahoo.com/gun-raffle-challenged-vote-campaign-172845488–abc-news-politics.html

And then there was “ONE”

Rick Santorum has announced his bid to suspend his campaign. While I did not want Santorum to be our nominee. I am once against greatly disturbed by the fact thay I do not ever get a chance to vote in Presidential primaries.

I believe the system is seriously seriously BROKEN. And I question whether we can look at this system and call it effective for Presidential elections. I do not believe it to be so. I do still believe our system works reasonably well for local state based elections. But the presidential primary election is to me, merely a fraud.

The presidential primary has been structured to prevent opportunity to vote. The primary should be established on a single day. The entire country should vote. And any primary held before that date is not counted.

Plain. Simple. Honest (Something lacking in politics.)

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To be honest, I believe I will be leaving the Republican party after this election.  And I believe this continued disenfranchisement of voters will kill the Republican Party over the next few more election cycles.

Primary Talk: Why America is Treading on Questionable Ground

American liberty is founded on the right to vote, the ability to remove our leaders and replace them with new ones. It is the gift that our Founding Fathers purchased for us with their sacrifice. It’s a beautiful gift…

A few years ago I had the pleasure to participate in an Appleseed Project event. It was a blast, we learned marksmanship, history, camradery….but the pinnacle of the weekend was a reminder about how we don’t need to have another revolution because our Founding Fathers provided us with a system that allowed for change.

There is a group, often referred to as the 3%, who believe the system is broke and there is no other choice but to enact change, by force if necessary.  The moniker is taking from the fact that during the Revolutionary war the active forces in the field fighting the tyranny of England never exceeded 3% of the colonial population.

I myself, tend to agree with the philosophy that so long as there is a means to enact change, the “trump card” option of force need never be used.

But what happens, if a large enough portion of the voter base begins to feel disenfranchised?  Even more of a question…what happens, if they are right in their beliefs that their ability to affect change is being negated?

That is a scary question… but it’s one that I feel will become more visible unless things change in our election process.

Presently, we have a system of primaries occurring, in which a tremendous amount of FAIL and fraud is occurring.  We have a candidate whom the establishment of the party has chosen, and has worked hard to see become the nominee (Romney).  While that candidate will likely become the nominee, it has been far from the “sweep” the establishment both wanted and expected, and arguably manipulated for.

Besides the media, which has repeatedly been calling for Romney in shocking fail after fail. Has there been more at hand?

We have seen a number of elections/caucuses  end with disturbing results. And it’s fairly well understood that the party leadership of the Republicans want at all cost not to see Ron Paul win.  Now I am not saying that Ron Paul would have necessarily won the elections in which questionable events have occurred.  What I am simply saying is a tremendous number of issues have arisen,  and some with very peculiar aspects. These incidents will lead to a growing feeling of disenfranchisement. That the system is merely rigged and no more than a circus and pony show.

Iowa, numerous irregularities, differences from polls, 137 precincts with irregularities, 8 precincts not reported (many of which gave no votes for Romney in 2008).  Oh, and let’s not forget moving to a secret location to count ballots.   How atrocious is Iowa’s results?  So bad, they’ll never be able to report a true winner. This is a state for which Ron Paul had a very strong position.

Nevada, once again a caucus which had bizarre behavior. High amount of precincts reported, and then suddenly a two day wait. In Ron Paul campaign’s case, it was one for which many Ron Paul supporters expected a strong result. And some feel by the fact that Ron Paul had increased his vote tallies by an avg of 200% -ranging from 85% (in FL, a state he did not campaign in) to 385% over his 2008 performance. Then suddenly in Nevada Ron Paul found himself with a meager 1.5% gain. Perhaps Ron Paul did not grow his support in Nevada (as this blogger would argue ).  But when combined with numerous delays, people complaining that figures were not being reported correctly, voters are sure to question “what just happened?”

Maine, more recently we’ve found ourselves in another similar issue with regards to Maine. Maine also has been having many questionable reports coming out of it. First off, it’s a fairly close race, but was announced for Romney while only 85% of the votes were reported. Second, a county believed to be strongly in support of Ron Paul had their caucus cancelled by a GOP party member on record for their support of Romney. Reports have circulated of individuals who worked the polls claiming the numbers being reported do not match what they reported.

And in many of these races, the votes of certain precincts have been discounted over the fact that extra ballots have been cast.  Many Ron Paul supporters feel that the GOP has engaged in election fraud. And are perhaps sabotaging precincts with strong Ron Paul support by adding irregularities so the votes are not counted.

This may or may not be so. It’s quite possible all those Ron Paul supporters are merely the loonies that the mainstream media likes to make them out to be. And you know what, A LOT OF THEM ARE!

But what it does say is that without a doubt our political system is broken. And that is a very dangerous situation in a democracy.

I understand that some will put forth that political parties are “private entities” and therefore cannot have their practices determined by the government.  I’ll disagree, and I’ll point to laws that have regulated how and what parties can function (laws mostly passed by the main two parties to exclude any alternative parties from competing).

Until you’ve tried to go through the political process of signature petitions, jumping hoops and hurdles, etc; you do not realize how hard it is to work within the system.  The laws governing our politics have essentially made the two party system the de facto system.  As such, I believe that either a) primaries need to come under regulation and observation or b) that the laws governing “major party” status should be prohibited, or at the very least revised.

At the very least, every Republican should be enabled to sue the Republican Party for fraudulent behavior. And be able to have the party penalized for it’s actions be they deliberate or negligent.

Why does this concern me?

Because if we continue to have elections in which the people feel “robbed” of their vote. We will lose the buffer of grace that Democracy provides. When people feel there is no way to enact change within the system, they will look outside of the system to enact change.

This is why I believe one of the #1 issues that should be of concern in the political year of 2012/2013 is primary reform.

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Dear Republican Party,

THIS MEANS YOU!!!
(time to get your act together please)

Primary Talk: Young chooses old…

Ron Paul repeatedly winning the vote of the younger generations.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/31/what-is-so-appealing-about-ron-paul-to-young-voters/

Please understand, in no way do I think Ron Paul is the perfect candidate. I have a few issues with his stances, namely, the fact that I am opposed to state rights. I believe individual rights trump both state and Federal and that the point of the two governments is to be in constant opposition to protect the rights of the individual.

That said, the media (& his own party’s) repeated attempts to silence Ron Paul and his message, leads one to be concerned about the system.  Today, CNN casually leaves Ron Paul off the tally listing. I could understand if they simply include Romney and Gingrich. But they included Santorum, who had one win and less delegates than Ron Paul.

But here is the interesting case study. I’ve noticed that election after election that Ron Paul is winning the young vote 29 and under, and a lot of the mid-30’s crowds as well.

What does this say?  Some are finally starting to talk about this trend.

I am of the opinion that Ron Paul is really the 2016 candidate. But he will probably be too old to run at that point.

What do I think is leading to this support?

1. He is the only candidate talking about getting rid of America’s debt. The younger generations understand they’re going to inherit this debt.  Who wants to inherit your parent’s credit card debt. When grandpa says let’s pay it off, I’m with grandpa.

2. He is the only one addressing the issue of the American empire and militarism.  What many criticize him for as “isolationism”, but is in fact merely non-imperial behavior. Ron Paul supports free trade, diplomacy. I think this approach makes greater sense to me. I see how we’ve handled Cuba. 1/2 a century of embargo and zero effect or achievement of goals. I believe the sanctions are the wrong approach. That increasing trade relations would do more to bring down the regime and further change.  We can look to China, which is still no rose garden. But it’s been the introduction to capitalism that has encouraged change, not embargoes.

3. He comes across as not part of the big entrenched government beaucracy. I think this is what a lot liked about Barack Obama as a candidate, they had the hope that he would not be a typical entrenched politician. Many have since become disappointed and disenfranchised with President Obama on these matters.

4. On a number of social issues, Ron Paul’s libertarian approach gains approval of a generation that views the world much differently than it’s predecessors. Most younger people seem to want government out of marriage. Something Ron Paul supports, perhaps for different motivations. But the results are the same.

All of this needs to be noted by the Republican party who is more and more increasingly being seen by the younger voters as an old boys club which is simply concerned about politics and elections, and not the issues. 

I think 2016 and 2020 will have very different platforms to today’s politics. The Republican party has done much to impede Ron Paul. They are failing to grasp that it is not a man, but an ideology. In truth, were the ideology to have a better figurehead than Ron Paul, I believe the primary would already be over. 

Eventually things will change regardless. A nation cannot continue to have $1 trillion deficits without eventually facing the muster.

We now know who the 99% are…

The 99% are those NOT voting for Rick Perry.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-10/politics/30610882_1_jon-huntsman-new-hampshire-romney-and-ron-paul

Election Summary – PA, VA, NJ

Though these days no election is assured until all the lawsuits are settled. The following are what are being called as the outcomes by the media.

Governor of Virginia: Bob McDonnell (Rep)
(Lieutenant Governor & Attorney General also won by the Republicans.)

Governor of New Jersey: Chris Christie (Rep)

Supreme Court:

Joan Orie Melvin (NRA/Rep) 51.7% vs Jack Panella (Dem) 48.3%

Superior Court:
Judy Olson (NRA) 14.6%
Sallie Mundy (NRA) 13.3%
Paula Ott (Rep) 12.2%
Anne Lazarus (Dem) 12.0%

So that is two NRA endorsed candidates leading.  Sadly, Judge Temp Smith is in 8th place.  But that is still 2 out of 3 endorsed Superior Court judge candidates winning.

* Paula Ott was endorsed by Firearm Owners Against Crime. So that might mean a third pro-2nd Amendment judge in Superior Court.

I noted that the Libertarian candidate received only 2% of the vote coming in dead last. Which is sad because is still shows that we’re very locked into the party system.

Commonwealth Court
Patricial McCullough (NRA) 27.2%
Kevin Brobson (NRA) 25.3%

That will mean the two NRA endorsed candidates for Commonwealth Court won.  This equates to a total of 5 out of 6 NRA endorsed candidates winning elections.

More information on Pennsylvania state judicial results

On a smaller scale Chuck Patterson and Harry Ness both Republicans won elections for York Court of Common Pleas.  More info

However, we are probably facing a very anti-gun mayor for the City of York in the person of Kim Bracey (Democrat). More info

All in all, I’d say it was a decent turn of events for our side.

Who to vote for?

Judge Joan Orie Melvin was endorsed for Superior Court by the NRA earlier in the year.  The NRA PVF has now endorsed the following candidates:

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court:

• Kevin Brobson
• Patricia McCullough

Pennsylvania Superior Court

• Sally Mundy
• Judy Olson
• Temp Smith

While these may be local to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  I encourage you to vote in which ever state in which you reside.  These small election years may seem trivial, but can make a significant difference on the local level. So I encourage you to VOTE!