Month: November 2012

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Deer Versus Plane

November 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

In the battle between a whitetail deer and a Department of Homeland Security jet, neither won. The deer is dead and all that remains of the jet is part of the cockpit and nose.

Just before noon on Saturday, a plane identified as a Cessna C550 (Citation II) jet hit a deer with its left wing as it was landing at Greenwood (SC) County Airport. After hitting the deer, the plane burst into flames. Fortunately, the pilot and the sole passenger were able to exit safely.

It appears the plane belonged either to DHS or to the Border Patrol. The news stories are somewhat conflicting on this. However, Greenwood County Sheriff Tony Davis did say that it carried surveillance equipment.

Davis
could not identify the type of plane or where it came from, but said
that it carried sophisticated surveillance equipment that can be used in
a variety of operations — including border control and marijuana
eradication operations.

Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/local-news/abbeville-greenwood-news/Plane-burns-after-colliding-with-deer/-/9654572/17457632/-/31jbgt/-/index.html#ixzz2CcOQg5sy

 Davis could not identify the type of plane or where it came from, but said that it carried sophisticated surveillance equipment that can be used in a variety of operations – including border control and marijuana eradication operations.

Now I wonder just what they planned on “surveilling” in the Upstate of South Carolina. Maybe they were looking for the moonshine still of Bill and Josh who star on the Discovery Channel’s Moonshiners. Or maybe they just happened to be landing at the wrong airport at the wrong time. I guess we’ll find out when the FAA who are reported to be investigating the crash release their report.

Davis
could not identify the type of plane or where it came from, but said
that it carried sophisticated surveillance equipment that can be used in
a variety of operations — including border control and marijuana
eradication operations.

Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/local-news/abbeville-greenwood-news/Plane-burns-after-colliding-with-deer/-/9654572/17457632/-/31jbgt/-/index.html#ixzz2CcOQg5sy

Davis
could not identify the type of plane or where it came from, but said
that it carried sophisticated surveillance equipment that can be used in
a variety of operations — including border control and marijuana
eradication operations.

Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/local-news/abbeville-greenwood-news/Plane-burns-after-colliding-with-deer/-/9654572/17457632/-/31jbgt/-/index.html#ixzz2CcOQg5sy

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#15seconds

November 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

The Israel Defense Forces have put out a YouTube video entitled #15seconds. 15 seconds is about the amount of warning Israelis living near the Gaza Strip get as they seek shelter from the Katyusha rockets being fired on them by Hamas.

I’d say this is a pretty powerful video that gets the message across very effectively. It is a shame that those on the Left and within the Obama Administration lean more towards the terrorists than towards the citizens of the only real democracy in the Middle East.

I anticipate it will only get worse given the continued diplomatic failures of the Obama Administration and the State Department led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Quote Of The Day

November 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

I don’t always agree with Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter and current columnist for the Wall Street Journal. However, she does have a way with words.

In her column yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, part of the discussion was about the other woman in David Petraeus’ life – Paula Broadwell.  After pointing out all the attributes that Broadwell ascribed to herself including author and biographer, Noonan has this to say.

She calls herself a biographer, but biographers actually do something arduous—they write biographies.

Broadwell, for those that aren’t aware, used a ghostwriter for the book All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.  If you think about it, Paula Broadwell was nothing but a highly-rewarded research assistant while Vernon Loeb, the ghostwriter, is the actual biographer.

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Clay Logan On The Possum Drop

November 17, 2012 by

The Possum Drop in Brasstown, North Carolina has been in the news a lot lately due to the suit brought by PETA to stop it. Cam Edwards of NRA News interviewed Clay Logan, owner of Clay’s Corner and the organizer of the Possum Drop, about his plans now that Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison, Jr. ruled in PETA’s favor.

In a rather humorous interview, Mr. Logan noted that in all the years that they’ve had the Possum Drop not one opossum get scared or traumatized enough to “play possum” or act dead. I believe that says something there.

While the New Year’s Eve festivities will continue in Brasstown, Mr. Logan said he didn’t know what the guest of honor would be. He was noncommittal on whether or not they will just ignore the judge’s ruling and use a live opossum.

Frankly if they aren’t allowed to use a live opossum, I think they should put Ingrid Newkirk in the cage and use her. I’m sure she wouldn’t object as it would be a human in the cage and not a four-legged critter.

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Update On S.3525 – Sportsmen’s Act of 2012

November 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

The Senate will vote on S. 3525 – Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 – on Monday, November 19th. Today’s Senate calendar listed the motion to bring the vote as having unanimous consent.

S. 3525 (ORDER NO. 504) 1.—Ordered, That at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 26, 2012, all post-cloture time on S. 3525, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting, and for other purposes, be deemed expired, and the Senate vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act point of order, if raised; provided, that if the motion to waive is successful, Amdt. Nos. 2876, 2877, 2878, and 2879 be withdrawn, en bloc, and substitute Amdt. No. 2875, offered by the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), be agreed to; provided further, that no further amendments or motions be in order prior to a vote on passage of the bill, and the Senate vote on passage of S. 3525, as amended, with no intervening action or debate; further, that if the motion to waive is not successful, the Majority Leader be recognized.


Ordered further, That on Monday, November 26, it be in order for the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Sessions), or his designee, to be recognized to raise a Budget Act point of order against substitute Amdt. No. 2875; provided, that it be in order the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid), or his designee, to make a motion to wave the point of order. (Nov. 15, 2012.)

The text of S.Amdt.2875 can be found here. It is just too long to try and publish in the blog. Scroll down to No. 2875 and go from there.

As Sebastian pointed out yesterday, while this bill supported by both the NRA and the NSSF, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) has come out in opposition to the bill due to concerns about private land being taken by the Federal government using non-Federal funds. Read his post and the comments.

For an opposing view, I suggest reading this guest analysis that David Codrea posted on his WarOnGuns blog today. It seems the concern is over the National Fish Habitat Board and the impact it could have on wetlands and their use.

I would be the first to agree that the definition of wetlands leaves much to be desired and that some bureaucrats have defined mud puddles (for lack of a better word) as a wetland. That said, I think any move to undercut the EPA’s coziness with the radical environmentalists at the Center for Biological Diversity is good. Until they were called out on it, the EPA through its General Counsel was actively giving advice to CBD on how to bring a petition to ban lead ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. This bill if passed would remove lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle from the EPA’s purview.

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An Unholy Alliance

November 16, 2012 by 1 Comment

An unholy alliance of gun prohibitionists, politicians, and certain church groups is pushing a so-called documentary called “Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence” that will air on certain NBC owned and affiliated stations. The documentary is part of the Horizons of the Spirit series which airs on that network. The documentary is presented by the National Council of Churches and was produced by the Presbyterian Church USA.

The documentary features such gun control luminaries as Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Colin Goddard, and Dr. Garen Wintemute talking about how “gun violence” (sic) impacted their lives.


In the United States more than 30,000 people are killed every year by gun violence and the disaster caused by gun violence is seen in almost every community. We may hear briefly about the victims and survivors of these shootings, but what happens after the media attention moves on and the wider public becomes numb to “just another shooting”? Drawing upon conversations with lawmakers, emergency room chaplains and surgeons, survivors and victims” families, former ATF officials, police officers, community leaders and others, “Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence” shares the story of how Gun Violence impacts individuals and communities and examines the “ripple effect” that one shooting has on a survivor, a family, a community, and a society.

 The trailer to “Trigger” is below:


Trailer for “Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence” Coming to NBC from Trigger Documentary on Vimeo.

Gun prohibitionists such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and Timothy Johnson of the Media Matters for America have been pushing the documentary today and are pointing people to a sample script/letter that they are asking be sent to program managers at local NBC affiliates. The script is being hosted on a Presbyterian Church USA website.


Dear Station or Programming Manager,

I am a viewer living in your market area, and I care about the issue of gun violence.

I am aware of an upcoming program titled Trigger: the Ripple Effect of Gun Violence, which is part of the NBC Horizons of the Spirit series. The documentary is free and can be aired from November 11th through May 2013.
I have been told that the technical information and blurb about the program is on the NBC Universal APT system (Affiliate Partnership Tool) that every NBC affiliate station has access to.

Trigger is timely, considering the many acts of gun violence that have happened across our nation. It is not a politically driven documentary, but rather it is a documentary that allows people affected by gun violence to share their stories of how one shooting has impacted a survivor, a family and a community — after the shooting incident is no longer on the front pages or on the news channels.

This documentary explores the issue of gun violence through a multifaceted lens of family members, law enforcement, hospital personnel and clergy, to help build an understanding of the ripple effect. It will hopefully encourage awareness and conversation about how our communities can help.

Will you please schedule the showing of Trigger at a time that is convenient for viewers? It would be good to air it more than once to allow as many people to view it as possible during the 6 months it is available.

Thank you for your time and your consideration.

To say this is not a politically driven documentary is absurd. When you have leading gun control advocates and politicians such as Carolyn McCarthy who has made her career on gun control as stars of a documentary, it is political.

I don’t belong to a church that is a member of the National Council of Churches nor am I a Presbyterian. If, however, you are a Presbyterian (PCUSA) or belong to one of the NCC member churches, you might want to make your views on this documentary known within your own denomination. You could ask just how much of your weekly offering went to produce this agenda driven political piece which seeks to hamper you in protecting your own family. I’m sure you can think of other questions to ask.

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Obama Nominates Seven For US District Court Judgeships

November 15, 2012 by 3 Comments

On Wednesday, President Obama sent the names of seven nominees to the Senate for US District Court judgeships. Unfortunately, I don’t know where any of them stand on Second Amendment issues. According to the White House statement, they “represent my continued commitment to ensure that the judiciary resembles the nation it serves.”

The last nominee on this list, Derrick Watson of Hawaii, graduated from Harvard Law with Obama in 1991.

Valerie E. Caproni: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Valerie E. Caproni is Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Northrop Grumman Corporation.  Previously, she served for eight years as General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Caproni has had a distinguished legal career in both private practice and public service, including stints at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the New York State Urban Development Corporation, and the law firms of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Cravath, Swaine & Moore.  She began her legal career by clerking for the Honorable Phyllis Kravitch of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  Caproni received her J.D. summa cum laude in 1979 from the University of Georgia School of Law and her B.A. magna cum laude in 1976 from Newcomb College of Tulane University. 

Kenneth John Gonzales:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico
Kenneth John Gonzales currently serves as the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, a position he has held since 2010.  Prior to his confirmation by the Senate, Gonzales spent eleven years working in the same office as an Assistant United States Attorney.  In 2001, he was commissioned an officer in the United States Army Reserve.  He presently holds the rank of Major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and is an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Law at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School.  From 1996 to 1999, Gonzales worked as a Legislative Assistant for United States Senator Jeff Bingaman.  He began his legal career clerking for the Honorable Joseph Baca, Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, from 1994 to 1996.  Gonzales received his J.D. in 1994 from the University of New Mexico School of Law and his B.A. in 1988 from the University of New Mexico.

Raymond P. Moore: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
Raymond P. Moore currently serves as the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming, a position he has held since January 2004.  Previously, he was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Colorado from 1993 through 2003.  From 1986 through 1992, Moore worked at the law firm of Davis, Graham & Stubbs in Denver, Colorado, becoming a partner in 1987.  Beginning in 1982, he spent four years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Colorado.  He began his legal career as an associate at Davis, Graham & Stubbs from 1978 to 1982.  Moore received his J.D in 1978 from Yale Law School and his B.A. cum lade in 1975 from Yale College. 

Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell currently serves as a Superior Court Judge for Los Angeles County in California, a position she has held since 2005.  For a five-month period in 2010 and 2011, she sat by designation on the California Court of Appeals for the Second District, Division 8, and has since served as Assistant Supervising Judge of the North Valley District of the Superior Court.  Prior to becoming a judge, Judge O’Connell served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California from 1995 to 2005.  From 1990 until 1995, she worked at the law firm Morrison & Foerster, where she handled a variety of civil litigation matters.  Judge O’Connell received her J.D. magna cum laude in 1990 from Pepperdine University School of Law and her B.A. in 1986 from the University of California at Los Angeles. 

Judge William L. Thomas:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Judge William L. Thomas has served as a Circuit Judge in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit since 2005, where he has presided over both civil and criminal matters.  For seven years, from 1997 to 2005, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of Florida, where he represented indigent clients in federal criminal cases.  Judge Thomas began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender at the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office in 1994.  He received his J.D. in 1994 from the Temple University School of Law and his B.A. in 1991 from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.

Judge Analisa Torres:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Judge Analisa Torres currently serves as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where she has handled criminal felony cases since 2010.  Judge Torres served as an Acting Justice of the same court in Bronx County from 2004 to 2009.  From 2003 to 2004, she was a judge on the New York Civil Court and from 2000 to 2002 she was a judge on the New York Criminal Court.  From 1992 to 1999, Judge Torres clerked for the Honorable Elliot Wilk of the New York State Supreme Court.  She also served as a Commissioner of the New York City Planning Commission from 1993 to 1995.  During the early portion of her legal career, Judge Torres worked for seven years as a real estate associate at three New York City law firms.  Judge Torres received her J.D. in 1984 from Columbia Law School and her A.B. magna cum laude in 1981 from Harvard College.

Derrick Kahala Watson:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
Derrick Kahala Watson has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Hawaii since 2007, and has served as Chief of the Civil Division since 2009.  Previously, he worked at the San Francisco law firm of Farella Braun + Martel LLP, where his practice focused on product liability, toxic tort, and environmental cost recovery litigation.  He joined the firm in 2000 and was named partner in 2003.  Watson was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California from 1995 to 2000, serving as Deputy Chief of the Civil Division from 1999 to 2000.  He began his legal career at the law firm of Landels, Ripley & Diamond in San Francisco, where he was an associate from 1991 to 1995.  Watson received his J.D. in 1991 from Harvard Law School, his A.B. in 1988 from Harvard College, and is a 1984 graduate of The Kamehameha Schools.

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NSSF Alert – Sportsmen’s Act Of 2012

November 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

I checked the Senate Calendar for today and this is the first item on the agenda. So if you are going to call, do it now!

This act will not only remove lead shot, ammo, and fishing tackle from the purview of the EPA and the Toxic Substances Control Act but it will allow more shooting ranges to be built using the money we pay in excise taxes on ammunition. Both of these are a win for the entire shooting community whether they hunt or not.

We have some great news! By an overwhelming 92-5 vote, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed an important procedural motion that will allow senators to vote on the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 (S.3525) currently scheduled for this Thursday, but that could slip to Friday.

NSSF thanks everyone who called and emailed your senators to help make this upcoming vote possible. Now we need all hunters, target shooters and firearms owners to keep the pressure on. Call your senators again and urge them to vote YES on the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 (S.3525), the most important package of measures for the benefit of sportsmen in a generation.

While we believe phone calls are most effective at this late stage in the process, you may also send a quick e-mail using the link provided on this page. In either case, your involvement will take only minutes. If this is your first opportunity to weigh in, the timing could not be better. Act today.

This historic legislation includes the firearms industry’s top legislative priority, the Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act (S.838) that would clarify that ammunition is excluded from regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Anti-hunting groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity are suing the EPA to force a ban on traditional ammunition made with lead components that would devastate hunting and shooting sports participation, drive up ammunition prices by almost 200 percent on average and dry up conservation funding.

No less than 46 of the nation’s leading sportsmen and conservation groups including NRA, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, American Sportfishing Association, International Game Fish Association, Center for Coastal Conservation, and Boone and Crockett Club are championing S.3525. This bipartisan legislation is strongly supported by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 is a package of 19 separate bills — the majority of sportsmen’s legislative priorities on Capitol Hill. (See below for an overview of the components of the bill.) A similar package of bills–the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012 (H.R.4089)–was passed by the House in the spring by a bipartisan vote of 276 to 146. Passage of this pro-sportsmen’s legislation will promote, protect and preserve our nation’s hunting, shooting and conservation heritage for generations to come.

Your voice must be heard! As you read this, anti-hunting forces are working to defeat S.3525. So act now, call your U.S. senators at 202-224-3121 and urge them to vote YES for the bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2012.

Sportsmen’s Priorities in the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012

The Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act: Specifically excludes ammunition and fishing tackle from the Toxic Substances Control Act, preventing unnecessary regulations that could devastate hunting, shooting, conservation funding and the firearm and ammunition industries.

Making Public Lands Public: Requires that the 1.5 percent of annual Land and Water Conservation Fund funding is made available to secure public access to federal public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.

Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act: Makes Pittman-Robertson funds available to states for a longer period of time for the creation and maintenance of shooting ranges. The bill encourages federal land agencies to cooperate with state and local authorities to maintain shooting ranges and limits liability for these agencies.

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to urge your senators to SUPPORT the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012.</blockquote>

UPDATE: The Senate voted on cloture for this bill today. There were 84 yeas, 12 nays, and 4 not voting. The nays were a weird combination of anti-gun Democrats and conservative Republicans. I’m guessing the Republicans didn’t like the part about Federal land purchases. Invoking cloture means that debate is brought to an end and the bill is now ready for passage. Given the numbers who voted for cloture, I’d say passage should be a formality.

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Me And Paula

November 14, 2012 by 4 Comments

It turns out that Paula Broadwell and I have something in common.

You guys went to same school? Nope. She went to West Point and I, believe it or not, am a graduate of a Quaker college. Go figure.

You both served in military intelligence? Again, no. While my father did serve in the US Army for 28 years, I have never served in the armed forces. I do, however, have the utmost respect for those who have served our country in the armed forces.

You both have written a book? Alas, no. I haven’t written any books with or without a ghost writer though I’ve thought about it once or twice.

And no, I’m not having an affair on the Complementary Spouse!

Actually, what we both have in common are visits from the FBI. Her visits have been a little more “intense” and are related to harassing emails she supposedly sent to Jill Kelley. The visit I got was to my blog and it was from the FBI Criminal Justice Information Systems in Clarksburg, WV. Someone there was interested in the blog post I did on Paradigm SRP’s Gator Shotgun Spreader device. According to Wikipedia, their mission is:

The mission of CJIS is to reduce terrorist and criminal activities by
maximizing the ability to provide timely and relevant criminal justice
information to the FBI and to qualified law enforcement, criminal justice,
civilian, academic, employment, and licensing agencies concerning
individuals, stolen property, criminal organizations and activities, and
other law enforcement related data.

They are also the home of the NICS database. I’m guessing the CJIS wants to have info about the shotgun spreader device in their database. Either that or the title of my post, “If Society Disintegrates, I Want One Of These”, triggered some key word search function. I don’t believe supporting the Constitution and the Second Amendment rises to the level of “treason” or “insurrection” even if we are continually being called “traitors” and “insurrectionists” by the ne’er do wells at CSGV.

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Dead Possums Only For Possum Drop

November 14, 2012 by 3 Comments

As I wrote a couple of months ago, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was suing the NC Wildlife Resources Commission over the granting of a permit to the organizer of Brasstown’s Possum Drop. That event is held annually on New Year’s Eve and involves the lowering – not dropping – of a caged opossum to the ground in a take-off of Times Square’s dropping the ball.

It seems that PETA must have found the most gullible judge in North Carolina. Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison, Jr. ruled yesterday that the NCWRC cannot issue a permit to Clay Logan for the live trapping of a opossum. A dead opossum is OK with the judge but not a live one.

Logan had a sportsman’s license and could have killed the animal,
which was in season at the time. But he didn’t meet standards for either
a license or a permit to keep animals in captivity, PETA argued, and no
statute permitted the WRC to allow ‘possum-caging on a special and
temporary basis.

Morrison agreed. Killing the animal was lawful; confining it was not.

“WRC
should therefore have instructed Logan to immediately release the
opossum into the wild where the opossum had been captured, or kill it,”
Morrison wrote in his order.

Judge Morrison went on to say:

“Hunters must afford wild animals the same right Patrick Henry yearned
for,” Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. wrote in his
order. “’Give me liberty, or give me death!’”

I’m sorry but Judge Morrison is an idiot. I suppose it would be considered harassment if I mailed Judge Morrison a road-kill possum or sent him a snide email. Given I don’t want either Postal Inspectors or FBI Special Agents knocking on my door, it is a nice idea but one on which I’ll pass.

The NCWRC has 30 days in which to decide to appeal this case to Wake County Superior Court. Frankly, I hope they do.