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Down The Shore

June 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

As my friends in New Jersey and the Philly area might say, we are going down the shore. Or as we in the Carolinas might say, we’re goin’ to Myrtle as in Myrtle Beach, SC. Actually, we are going just south of there to Surfside Beach.

It is a family vacation and we’ll have a house full of people. I think my count for tonight is around 16 with a high of around 20 sometime during the week. It will be organized chaos but a whole hell of a lot of fun.

As you might expect, the blogging this coming week will be hit and miss. I am bringing a handful of DVDs that I need to review including “Make Ready with Michael Bane – Concealed Carry” which arrived in the mail yesterday. You can expect a full review on that when I get back.

I think I have everything packed and ready to go. I have the rum (dark and light) for Tiki drinks, I have the good bourbon for toasting anniversaries, a few Aloha shirts, and my bathing suit. Sounds about right!

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Those Damned Insurrectionists

June 15, 2012 by 4 Comments

Historian Walter Borneman has an article in today’s Wall Street Journal on the War of 1812. Borneman is the author of “1812: The War That Forged a Nation”. He is also the author of “The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King” which I am in the process of reading.

Borneman’s article discusses Congress’ declaration of war on Great Britain and the political fallout from it. Generally, it split along party lines with the Federalists being opposed to war and the Jeffersonian Republicans in favor of it.

While the war issue in 1812 was not rigidly defined along party lines, Federalists generally opposed the war while Jeffersonian Republicans (forerunners of Andrew Jackson’s Democrats) favored it. Two years later, the most antiwar of the Federalists went so far as to convene at Hartford, Conn., and debate constitutional amendments designed to weaken the central government. Some insist that they debated outright secession.

What amuses me about this is that Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) considers himself one of the world’s leading experts on James Madison and his political writings and thoughts. He is also of the firm belief that the Federalists never meant for the Second Amendment to protect an individual right to bear arms.

I wonder what Ladd would have to say about his collective right Federalists being, in his words, “insurrectionists”. That, by the way, is the epithet that he and his boss Josh Horwitz throw at those of us who hold that the Second Amendment is both an individual right to keep and bear arms as well as a bulwark against a tyrannical government.

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Mike Hits Another Homerun

June 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

Mike Vanderboegh of SipseyStreetIrregulars must be on the mend from his recent surgery and attendent health problems. He’s just hit another homerun in the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. He’s found definitive links between a murdered ICE agent and Operation Fast and Furious

Slain ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata who was killed in an ambush in Mexico in 2011 was the investigating officer into a seized shipment of firearms headed to Mexico. What makes this significant is that 50 out of the 80 guns seized were guns that walked due to Operation Fast and Furious. The Department of Homeland Security has long denied that Zapata had any connection to Operation Fast and Furious.

Congressional investigators permitted to view Department of Homeland Security documents related to the Fast and Furious operation have located and seen an Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Report of Investigation (ROI) from August 2010 describing 80 weapons seized in an arms smuggling interdiction between Phoenix, Arizona and San Antonio, Texas. Of these weapons, the majority (approximately 50) were noted to have come from Operation Fast & Furious in Arizona, purchased by Uriel Patino and Jacob Chambers. The ROI was written and signed by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jaime Zapata, who was shot dead in an ambush at a fake roadblock in San Luis Potosí, Mexico on 15 February 2011. At the time of the report, Agent Zapata was assigned to the Laredo office.

Two of the weapons found at the murder scene were later traced back to Texas — One was purchased in August 2010 near Houston on behalf of accused drug dealer Manuel Gomez Barba, and the other in October 2010 by a Dallas trafficking ring that included Otilio Osorio and his brother Ranferi. Much like Fast and Furious, both groups had been under ATF surveillance for many months, although ATF officials in Texas later denied that any gunwalking happened in their state. United State Senator John Cornyn has pressed Eric Holder and DOJ for details on any gunwalking in Texas. So far, he has been met with denials or silence.

The Department of Homeland Security, ICE and the Department of Justice have long denied that the case of Jaime Zapata had anything to do with Fast and Furious. The discovery of this ROI by Zapata, “puts the lie to that (expletives deleted) by Napolitano and Holder,” according on source who spoke with this reporter on conditions of absolute anonymity.

Multiple sources including current and former employees of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have confirmed this explosive new revelation in the Fast & Furious investigation. Said one source, “I think (DHS) is covering up something big.” He added, “I feel betrayed.”

I wonder what Ms. Napolitano has to say about this. I’ve long considered her to be vying with Eric Holder for the bottom of the barrel in Obama’s cabinet.

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Great Ad From The American Future Fund

June 15, 2012 by

I’ll be honest. I’ve never heard of the American Future Fund nor of any of its board members. That said, they just put out a great ad taking the Obama Administration to task over Operation Fast and Furious.

It is a shame that this ad is only an on-line advertisement. The Powerline Blog says it should be playing TV in all the swing states and I heartily agree. They also said this about it.

With calls for Eric Holder’s resignation growing–John Cornyn’s is the most recent–the time is right. The beauty of pounding away on Fast and Furious is that the administration can’t respond. Until now, Barack Obama and Eric Holder have simply counted on the liberal media to help them cover up the scandal. Holder refuses to answer such an elementary question as who authorized the program, and he feels free to lie in a blatant and arrogant manner. If Fast and Furious is suddenly all over television, what is Obama going to do? Start giving speeches about it?

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“Shadow War On The Second Amendment” – David Keene

June 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

David Keene, the President of the NRA, is also the former President of the American Conservative Union. Thus, it is only natural that he should be at the ACU’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Chicago recently. He moderated a couple of panel discussion which Sebastian discusses here.

He was interviewed for NRA News by Cameron Gray. Among the things Keene discussed were what he termed as the shadow war on the Second Amendment. This war includes the use of regulatory restrictions at the state and local level, the fight over concealed carry permits in may-issue states, the role of certain sheriffs in denying permits, etc. While the interview is wideranging, I found this particularly interesting.

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“There’s A Bus Waiting”

June 15, 2012 by

Given the history of Obama throwing subordinates and other supporters under the bus, I don’t think any of us really believe that he’ll go to the mattresses for Eric Holder. Chris Muir in tomorrow’s Day by Day cartoon captures this reality very well.

It is obvious that Muir keeps up with the gun blogs to know about Mike’s latest revelation regarding the new whistleblowers.

Courtesy of Chris Muir and Day by Day Cartoon.

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“Riled Up With National Pride”

June 14, 2012 by

Today is both Flag Day and the birthday of the US Army. Oral tradition also notes that on this day President Theodore Roosevelt got “riled up with national pride.”

1908, Theodore Roosevelt

Oral tradition passed on through multiple generations holds that on June 14, Theodore Roosevelt was dining outside Philadelphia, when he noticed a man wiping his nose with what he thought was the American Flag. In outrage, Roosevelt picked up a small wooden rod and began to whip the man for “defacing the symbol of America.” After about five or six strong whacks, he noticed that the man was not wiping his nose with a flag, but with a blue handkerchief with white stars. Upon realization of this, he apologized to the man, but hit him once more for making him “riled up with national pride.”

Thanks to Julie Golob for the pointer to this interesting (and probably apocryphal) bit of historical trivia.

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Who’s The Bigger Idiot?

June 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

I’m trying to figure out who in this case comes across as the bigger idiot – the media or the sheriff and his staff

On Tuesday, the Broward County Sheriff’s Department arrested the owners of a pain clinic in Pompano Beach (FL) on charges of money laundering, racketeering, and prescription drug trafficking. They then seized guns and money from the owners’ home and office.

As to who comes off like the bigger idiot, I’ll let you make the call.

First, here is the lead paragraph of the story by Linda Trischitta of the Sun Sentinel:

The confiscated arsenal includes two short-barreled assault rifles, a portable rocket launcher case and a tiny .22-caliber pistol that would fit in a brassiere.

Including “a portable rocket launcher case” in the list of a “confiscated arsenal” is pretty stupid. Reporters are not known for having gun smarts. However, it seems the sheriff of Broward County and some of his staff are trying to out-stupid the media when it comes to firearms.

Sheriff Al Lamberti had this to say:

During a news conference at BSO’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters, Sheriff Al Lamberti called the firearms array “scary” and “sophisticated” and “not the day-to-day, target practice weapons you’d normally see.”

But, officials acknowledged, the bulk of the weapons had been legally purchased.

You almost expect him to say the doctors arrested had firearms with that shoulder thing that goes up.

Sgt. Ted Taranu of the BSO then displays the arrogance (and stupidity) that serves to tarnish the reputation of all the good law enforcement officers out there:

The olive-green rocket launcher case did not contain its projectile, and was harmless.

Sgt. Ted Taranu of BSO’s gun squad said it is not illegal to possess such a souvenir, but that a civilian really shouldn’t have one.

“The military controls such equipment that could perhaps be bought at a gun show or from a private collector for around $500,” said Taranu. BSO will now try to determine who bought it, and from where.

Sheriff Lamberti, by the way, is a Republican. It goes to show that Democrats don’t hold the license on making anti-gun comments nor that Republicans are always pro-gun.

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NRA-ILA Weighs In On HB 111

June 14, 2012 by

The NRA-ILA released this yesterday along with a call for members to call their State Senator and push for passage.

House Bill 111, legislation which would provide for restaurant carry, is currently awaiting action in the state Senate Finance Committee. HB 111 passed in the Senate Judiciary II Committee on June 6 by a voice vote.

HB 111 would allow law-abiding gun owners who have a Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) to carry a concealed firearm into most restaurants that serve alcohol for on-premises consumption, as long as no alcohol is consumed by the individual carrying the firearm. Currently, 44 states allow for the lawful carrying of concealed firearms into restaurants where alcohol is served. Passage and enactment of this bill is critical to ensure North Carolina’s place among the vast majority of the states in trusting law-abiding permit holders to exercise their rights responsibly in these places.

In addition, HB 111 amends state law enacted last year in House Bill 650 (previously reported on here) that imposed restrictions on prohibiting CHP holders from carrying firearms in parks under the control of local governments. Because some municipalities have gone beyond what HB 650 allowed, HB 111 was amended to impose tighter restrictions on local governments. If enacted, this bill would restrict localities from prohibiting lawfully carried concealed firearms in such places as greenways, designated biking or walking paths, certain open areas and fields, as well as other areas.

The head of the Senate Finance Committee, Buck Newton, stated in a radio interview yesterday that it would only take about 15 minutes of their time to get it out of committee. I strongly suggest that they take that 15 minutes and get this done.

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Another Senator Calls For Holder To Resign

June 14, 2012 by

In what must be taken as a sign that he is in real political trouble at home well-known RINO, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, has joined the list of those calling for Eric Holder to step down. At least, in an equivocating, qualified manner.

Hatch made the call during a Wednesday interview on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s radio show. “Well if he doesn’t cooperate with the Congress on this Fast and Furious, where one of our agents was killed because of the stupidity of this administration, then he ought to step own,” Hatch said.

“He’s basically a nice man, but by gosh he’s been so partisan in that job that I’m very concerned about him and tend to support Sen. Cornyn and others who think that he ought to retire.”

As The Daily Caller notes, his opponent for the Republican nomination in Utah, Dan Liljenquist, made the demand for Holder to step down in November 2011. Liljenquist just this week reiterated that demand and criticized Hatch for not demanding Holder’s resignation.

The late Speaker Tip O’Neill (R-MA) famously said “All politics is local”. In this case, I’m sure he was right.