Cowboy Confessional

I received this in a file filled of military posters from a relative who works in the service, and is a former Ranger.  If the boys and girls in fatigues and in the Pentagon think this little of Harry Reid, then you know for who they are (and are not) fighting.

For those who wear reading glasses, the caption under Harry Reid’s ugly mug reads “INCOMPETENCE - If you can cast doubt on the skills and abilities of others, there is no end to the things you can fail at without being noticed.”

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I hesitate to bite the editorial hand that occasionally feeds me, but the masthead memo last Sunday at the San Francisco Chronicle concerning the Tiahrt Amendment (“Aim for safety”) rhetorically missed the target.

The goal behind this series of legislation is to prevent well-documented abuse of a law enforcement tool for political gain. San Francisco was party to the failed conspiratorial litigation against firearm manufacturers on the sophistic theory that gun makers are party to the criminal misuse of their products. The legal theory, pitiful in its lack of logic, was built upon misused Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives (BATFE) trace data. Given the transparent attempt to bankrupt an entire industry through misappropriated and inaccurate data was the genesis of the Tiahrt amendments.

Thankfully, the amendments are available for public reading through federal web sites, and the preservation of law enforcement access to crime gun trace data is clear. The current Tiahrt amendment states that the data will remain private “except to a Federal, State, local, or foreign law enforcement agency … or local prosecutor … in connection with and for use in a bona fide criminal investigation or prosecution.” That is clear to everyone, especially the BATFE and Fraternal Order of Police who expressed “strong support” for the amendment.

In other words, cops get the data and publicity seeking politicians don’t. That is an accurate and safe aim.

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ABC news, which was marginally reliable before Peter Jennings puffed his last breath, has now sunk to a journalistic low previously unknown outside of Dan Rather’s alleged mind.

This evening ABC pandered to the Bloomberg clique of inept mayors who are blaming guns and trafficking for their inability, or more likely their unwillingness, to put enough cops in bad neighborhoods to stop gang members from using one another for target practice. 

Philly’s City Councilman Darrel Clarke, a man of marginal linguistic ability, struggled to articulate his inane notion that state law — that treats everyone in Pennsylvania equally — prevents him from enacting gun control, and said restrictions would have an effect on Philly violence.

It is instructive to examine other large cities from other states that also have uniform state-wide gun law preemption.  If lack of local civil rights violations were a determining factor in violent crime, then other large cities in other preemptive states should have similar crime rates.  But from the table below we see that there is something simply wrong with Philly (and almost as bad with Dallas).

We see that Philly is a hell hole, with all varieties of violent crime rocketing past any definition of civil society. Rates of rape are three times higher than New York.  Aggravated assaults are twice that of San Diego.  And Philly’s murder rate is off the charts.  And yet they are not by law treated any differently than most other large cities when it comes to regulating gun ownership.

The good people of Philadelphia should go to city hall, stand on Councilman Clarke’s desk, and scream loudly into his festering face until he puts enough cops in their neighborhoods to prevent thugs from owning the streets.

But he won’t do that.  Doing real work is too hard for politicians who prefer easy headlines hyped by those who play at being reporters.

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One of the arguments against a “time certain” withdraw from Iraq is that terrorist in residence would ramp-up violence as that date approached.  This conclusion goes beyond common sense and enters the realm of prophesy.

And so it should have been with the September 15th reporting date of progress, or lack thereof, in Iraq.  Yesterday, General Petraeus — a man whose job I wouldn’t take for all the money in Hillary’s campaign accounts — noted that he fully expects the jihadists, wahabbist, and maybe even Iraqi Rotarians to stage high-profile attacks leading up to his Congressional presentation. With a little over two months left before the “date certain minor”, we can expect to see a steady increase in bloodshed and the stupidity of those causing it.

Indeed, the day Petraeus made his prediction, 100 Shia were blown to bits north of Baghdad.

The bottom line is that setting any date for any measure of resolve gives the enemies of humanity an objective.  It gives them the advantage of metering their resources, timing their carnage, and perfecting our retreat through revulsion.

Congressional clowns that put forth the mandated reporting date have 100 new bloody souls on their hands, and will soon have more.

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Speaking of Prius’ and their owners, we see that hybrid motivations are not so altruistic.

The New York Times (a source normally not worth trusting), carries a piece noting the half of recent Prius owners bought their mobile tin cans because “it makes a statement about me.”  In other words, less than half of Prius owners are making the purchase in order to lower air pollution or reduce American dependence on foreign oil. 

They are buying Prius’ to inflate their egos, evidently emulating their God Gore. As one insufferable simp said “I really want people to know that I care about the environment … I like that people stop and ask me how I like my car.”

Prius pride goeth before the fall.

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