Lawlessness In Philadelphia

Sebastian writes that not only did the Philadelphia City Council pass illegal gun control laws that violate Pennsylvania state regulation, now the sheriff in Philadelphia is refusing to do his job.

Specifically, he refused to hold a court-ordered foreclosure auction.

Gee, I wonder how long I could get away with ignoring a court order? Think a sheriff might come after me? So who does the sheriff think he is? The following might answer that question:

"Mr. Green, a police sergeant when he was elected sheriff in 1987, has a politico's eye for his job. Last month, he presented a commendation for valor to an officer who was robbed at gunpoint while sitting in a barber's chair and wounded one thief in the ensuing firefight. Standing next to the taller officer for the photo opportunity, Mr. Green hiked himself onto his toes. "Just one second," he said. "I'm going to become a politician." Everyone laughed. But he stayed on his tiptoes until the photographers finished their shots."

Yep, that says it all. While he's preening for the cameras he is not doing his job. As a real estate practitioner, I have to agree with Sebastian's take on this. Lenders aren't going to like Philadelphia, already a bastion of lawlessness, if the county sheriff won't even follow the law.

Why take the risk if even law enforcement can't be trusted?

The Gratitude Campaign

Sometimes we don't slow down long enough to say "thank you" to those who mean the most to us, or especially to those who deserve our thanks the most.

Watch the vid. It speaks volumes.

And remember, it's not about politics. It's about service . . . and sacrifice. Never forget that saying thank you is one of the easiest things we can do.

h/t to Lucy

For Hillary, It Wasn't Supposed To Happen Like This

UPDATED: Saturday, June 7, 2008, 3:01 pm -- Hillary has endorsed Obama. In the meantime, her supporters are asking, "how did she lose to this guy?"

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No one gets everything they want. Or circumstances force a wait of some time . . . I understand that situation fully, and the feeling is frustrating beyond belief. Maddening, even.

But for Sen. Hillary Clinton, none of it was supposed to happen this way. The headlines this morning are referring to her situation with words like "Vanquished," and "Ordeal." In the beginning was a race, or sorts toward a coronation. Today, she is expected to drop her history-making run for the presidency, as her rival, Sen. Barack Obama has come from nowhere and clinched the necessary number of primary delegates to take the democrat nomination for president.

What was "inevitable," ends today. Agence France Presse has the full story.

Miami Herald Writer Implies 2A Is A Mythical Right

Updated: Saturday, June 7, 2008, 4:30 pm -- Warner Todd Huston, writing for MythBusters, has a few choice words regarding Mr. Grimm's opinion piece, as well.

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In an astoundingly uninformed opinion piece titled "What's a few dead cops to the gun lobby?," Miami Herald writer Fred Grimm asks an incredibly ignorant question. Of course, he approaches this an a rhetorical question, not expecting an answer.

But the question is one with no happy answer, much like asking if you still beat your wife, or if you've ever diddled a sheep all you wanted. Get the picture?

He can even feel the "evil" in his hands as he handles a competition rifle for the first time:

"The shock was in the weight of the thing. Less than six pounds. It was a cop's weapon, a semiautomatic assault rifle of dull anodized black steel, stripped down to an unadorned functionality. How light it felt in my hands. Like a toy gun.

"I thought how easy it would be for some kid, some 110-pound wild-dog street punk, to heft an AR-6520 and wield it to hellish effect."

Okay, first off "semi-automatic" and "assault rifle" are contradictory terms. Like describing "warm ice." So Mr. Grimm has no idea what he is talking about . . . sort of gives you an idea where is ideology is going to take him.

"Gun peddlers visit gun stores and shows where they make legal purchases of semiautomatic military assault guns powerful enough to penetrate walls, doors, cars -- powerful enough to render a police officer's bulletproof vest obsolete.

"They flip them. Sell them out of car trunks at twice the price to gangbangers, drug dealers and armed robbers who want to upgrade to cop killers. Sell them to felons. Sell them to kids. Sell them to certifiably crazy people as long as crazy people can ante up a cold three grand."

Flip them? Sounds like he's been burned by the mortgage crisis and let himself be convinced to buy a pig-in-a-poke for an outlandish price, and got taken to the cleaners. Florida is overwhelmed with rubes posing as smart people who say had no idea what they were getting into in that flipping thing.

"A young aspiring criminal no longer thinks his 9mm automatic pistol packs enough death. He's willing to pay street prices for an AK-47 with a 90-round clip."

He means magazine . . . more evidence of Mr. Grimm's ignorance.

"In 2004, Congress allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire. The federal law suffered major loopholes, but it still had the effect of tamping down the firepower cops faced on the streets. Since the ban was jettisoned, police groups like the International Association of Chiefs of Police have lamented that the bad guys have the cops outgunned."

Oh yes, the IACP, the front for the anti-gun Joyce Foundation. Good choice there Mr. Grimm. What little credibility you had just was swept out into Biscayne Bay with your reliance on the International Association of Chiefs of Police to justify your point.

The bottom line: Even an experienced journalist can fed a line. He swallowed it all -- hook, line and sinker.

Hey Mr. Grimm. This nation is far safer because of states like Florida, which is a pioneer in allowing law-abiding taxpayers to carry a concealed firearm for their -- and your -- protection.

But your flipping story is off the mark. Its not about competition rifles. The phenomenon of flipping homes is a huge reason this nation is in a mortgage and housing dilemma.

A far bigger story, Mr. Grimm, and you are missing it in favor of carrying water for discredited anti-gunners who continually tick off the vast majority of law enforcement with outlandish claims like those you are making in your column.

While We're On The Subject of Media Double Standards . . .

Have you ever imagined how our present-day politically-correct media would report the D-Day Landings during WW2? Landings that occurred on this very day in 1944.

Roger Kimball has. The headlines would be thus:

"Breaking News! US Army pinned down in bungled assault. Huge civilian casualties. Experts fear grave damage to the environment!"

In today's media culture, turning back the heinous actions and tyranny of Adolph Hitler would ery likely take a back seat to environmental concerns from off-shore bombardments, and civilian casualties.

Sadly, very sadly, I think he's nailed it. Sigh . . .

More From Media Double Standardland

About four years ago, Columbus City Council was considering ill-informed regulation on competition rifles. The ban that ultimately went into effect (it has since been made redundant by passage of a statewide general law putting all firearms regulation into the hands of state lawmakers) resulted in the National Rifle Association pulling its planned 2007 Meetings & Exhibitions from Ohio's capitol city and moving the event to St. Louis.

Prior to one of the many hearings, a local pastor gave an invocation and during his remarks and called on God to help the brave council people have the strength to do what needed to be done, and ban the evil guns. Or something like that.

But he quoted scripture, and even called for the people of Columbus to beat their swords into plowshares.

NO one on council batted an eye. No one in the media took notice. But a number of people in the audience were shaken because scripture was being used (they said improperly) to beat down a particular way of thinking. Further, when the over-the-top comments were pointed out to either a newspaper or TV reporter in the outer hallway later that night, the media folks seemed unimpressed. I did not hear the invocation (I was a few minutes late to that particular hearing), but I did HEAR ABOUT IT from a number of people who were in the Council chambers early.

I remember one person who was interviewed by either the Columbus Dispatch or one of the local television stations pointing out that the minister was very much "in the wrong" for what he said -- no matter his personal convictions about guns.

The consensus was that while the pastor had his opinion (as we all do), he should have left it at home or at his church. I concur. This wasn't his church. It was a government building. It is one thing for clergy to come and testify in a government hearing before an elected body, either as an individual, or representing their parishioners. But to have an semi-official "post" and role within Council -- a Council that claimed that it was keeping an open mind on the subject (it wasn't -- the decision had been made before the first hearing took place) -- smacked of trying to load the deck. It came across as . . . well, unprofessional and sneaky.

Either way, no one on Council, nor any of the media, seemed to care -- even though many in the Council chambers were visibly upset by it.

Fast forward to June 6, 2008. Today's Columbus Dispatch features an editorial lambasting clergy for getting involved in politics.

Huh?

Yes, the "Big D" thinks that clergy have no place in politics, and the reasons for such are best demonstrated by the problems both presumptive party nominees John McCain and Barack Obama are facing after controversial statements made on their behalf from the pulpit by supporters who wear the cloth.

"The separation of church and state is one of the great cornerstones of this nation. Yet each new political season evokes ever-more crossing of the line, with politicians pandering unashamedly for support from religious groups and men and women of the cloth believing their flocks should take their political advice along with their spiritual guidance. These clergy act as if fealty to a religious doctrine translates easily into adherence to a political cause . . . . "

So while the Dispatch had no problem with local clergy urging on City Council members to ban or force the registration of perfectly legal competition rifles, it has a problem today with clergy speaking out about the presidential candidates.

"But the clergy who believe it is their calling to help stir this goulash, believing that a dash or two of old-time, new-time or any-time religion will make it more palatable, are wrong. They jeopardize all they say they stand for when they use the power of their ordination to exert influence in the temporal arena of politics."

Bingo! This should have been written four years ago. But then, the Dispatch has never been friendly to the idea of women keeping a firearm -- no matter what type -- to protect their children.

New Meaning For The Phrase 'We Found The Smoking Gun'

"Smoking Gun" used to mean evidence -- clear cut proof of something . . . a lead pointing to the suspect. No more.

Leave it to Breda, reference librarian extraordinaire, to point out alternatives.

Clever actually.

Why Isn't Chicago Alderman Mell In Jail, Or At Least Losing His Gun Rights?

"Alderman Richard Mell got a City Council committee to approve a change to a Chicago law on his behalf Wednesday, but argued it would benefit thousands of other city residents who, like him, simply failed to renew their gun licenses.

"It was probably good I didn't [renew], because there are an awful lot of other citizens" who had the same problem, Mell (33rd) said after the Police and Fire Committee approved an amendment to the gun registration ordinance. The change would allow those whose registration lapsed to renew at a higher fee."

Special treatment for a public official who should have known better -- considering he lives and wields significant power over a city with some of the nation's most draconian gun laws. But then its not surprising coming from Mayor Daley's Chicago.

I am stunned, but not entirely surprised, that Mell isn't being held to the same standard as Joe Taxpayer, who if a firearm owner, is trapped in a maze of ridiculous gun control laws that protect only criminals.

Alderman Mell was given a free pass. Of course, he claims that the ordinance he just got passed is to benefit the public. Bull! He didn't even get his hand slapped. He broke the law -- a big one in Chicago (at least unless you are one of the "entitled class." He hurriedly got legislation passed to benefit himself. That anyone else benefits is an afterthought. Of course, the restrictions shouldn't exist in the first place, for they unfairly burden law abiding peoples without doing anything to affect crime rates.

It's not right.