Bloomberg Gun Giveaway

It’s like Guns for Tots, only with real guns. Some Virginians are getting Mike Bloomberg’s panties all knotted up by giving away firearms in his honor:

Openly armed firearms enthusiasts packed a normally sedate government building, hoping to win a pistol or rifle and at the same time send a defiant message to gun-control advocates, especially New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group, organized the “Bloomberg Gun Giveaway” in large part to thumb its nose at Bloomberg, who accuses some shops of allowing illegal purchases of firearms that later were used in crimes in his city…

Anybody who showed up at Thursday’s event was eligible for the drawing - except Bloomberg and his immediate family.

Asked Thursday about the giveaway, Bloomberg said, “I think it’s sick, is the nicest ways to phrase it.”

Speaking of Virginia and guns, the new V-Tech Rampage game is causing lots of outrage. I’m outraged myself, mostly because the game itself is so lame. It looks and plays like it was designed for the Commodore 64.

Giuliani for 9/11

 

Somehow I missed this gem when The Onion first ran it in February (the fact that it’s dated the same week my son was born may have something to do with the oversight), but this is by far the best distillation of the Rudy presidential campaign I have read:

“Let us all remember how we felt on that day, with the world watching our every move, waiting on our every word,” said Giuliani, flanked by several firefighters, ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and Judith Nathan, his third wife. “With a campaign built on traditional 9/11 values, and with the help of every citizen who believes in the 9/11 dream, I want to make 9/11 great again.”

According to Washington–based political analyst Gregory Hammond, Giuliani’s candidacy “should not be underestimated.”

Sure, he has no foreign or national policy experience, and both his personal life and political career are riddled with scandal,” said Hammond. “But in the key area of having been on TV on 9/11, the other candidates simply cannot match him. And as we saw in 2004, that’s what matters most to voters in this post-9/11 world.”

Hat tip: LewRockwell.com

Giuliani v Ron Paul: Rudy and the media still clueless on 9/11

On Tuesday night Rudy Giuliani proved he is more willing to pander to fear, ignorance and nationalism than he is to seriously discuss the causes of terror and anti-Americanism.  He played dumb about the voluminous evidence of the direct causes of 9/11 (the reasons given by Osama Bin Laden) and the indirect underlying causes of the terror problem in general.  As a front runner and a moderate, he squandered an opportunity to display real leadership and debate Ron Paul about how to get us out of the crises his party has so badly bungled, much like he squandered opportunities to prepare New York City for foreseeable crises prior to 9/11. 

Instead Giuliani puffed up his chest pretended America can do no wrong and never has.   He had to say it – as if we didn’t know - that he was someone who lived through 9/11. God I hate that.   My office is at 55 Broad Street.  Not everyone who lived through 9/11 has to wear it like a badge. 

It goes without saying that initiation of violence is always wrong whether it’s flying planes into the World Trade Center ,  pre-emptive attacks like Iraq or the overthrow of peaceful Democratic governments such as that of Iran in the early 1950’s .   But it’s a whole lot easier for us to fix our own behavior than it is to forcibly subdue entire civilizations.

It’s hard for anyone to face up to serious mistakes, specially a powerful nation with whole political parties and whole industries whose fate depends on keeping the con running.  The alcoholic may think another drink will relieve the hangover but it won’t help him quit drinking. 

I know it’s tough for politicians to try to deal in fact, but can’t we get even a little real leadership from the leading candidates for the most powerful job in the world.  Only long-shot Ron Paul faces any facts at all.  The Nation’s John Nichols does a great job of framing the issue when he writes “Rudy Giuliani made clear in Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate that he is not ready to let the facts get in the way of his approach to foreign policy”.

But Rudy is not the only one refusing intelligent debate on a country’s biggest crisis.

Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin reveled in showing his complete lack of seriousness or knowledge of the subject calling  a 10 term Congressman and two time presidential candidate Ron Paul an “old-timey Texas crank “

Michigan GOP leader Saul Anuzis wants Ron Paul banned from future GOP debates.  What’s he so afraid of?  Could it have anything to do with the tremendous positive reaction among conservatives to Paul’s performance in the first debate?  Paul hit the GOP where it hurts, in their conservative base. 

Shawn Hannity makes a complete fool of himself and shows his lack of professionalism (surprise,  surprise)  continually interrupting Ron Paul as Paul intelligently and calmly tries to answer his questions in this amazing video clip  (about 2:45 into the video).   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZO7MPxJIs

One thing is certain Ron Paul must have it right or so many people with much to gain from the war wouldn’t be so angry with him.

Libertarians Under Surveillance

All right, the Manhattan Libertarian Party made the big time! We were officially one of the suspicious groups that the NYPD was keeping an eye on prior to the 2004 Republican Convention, thanks to our subversive Unauthorized Protest. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the police department to declassify its secret surveillance reports. The obvious lefty groups were in there, of course. But the New York Times is surprised at who else Big Brother was looking at:

And the concern was not just over left-wing groups. In a June 30, 2004 digest, the police noted plans by a group calling itself the Manhattan Libertarian Party to protest the convention without a permit. “The group contends that the First Amendment guarantees the right to peaceful assembly,” an officer wrote, noting the obvious.

I wonder what the NYPD would contend the First Amendment says. On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know.

But at least we made it easy for the cops to watch us:

UPDATE: Here’s a snapshot of the actual surveillance report:

NYPD Surveillance Report

PrideFest Canceled

 

Bummer. One of the great NYC summer traditions has been nixed by City Hall. The mayor’s office has inexplicably denied a permit to Heritage of Pride for PrideFest, the street fair component of the Gay Pride March. The idjits in the mayor’s office are calling it a “new event” (even though the event is actually 15 years old) simply because they changed locations from the Village to Chelsea and are therfore refusing to issue a permit.

The good news is the parade will go on.

License to Strip

 

Watch out, exotic dancers! (Market research shows exotic dancers comprise a significant portion of Serf City readership.) At least one New York politician wants to make it harder for you to earn a living:

Democratic assemblyman and former comptroller candidate Felix Ortiz takes the threat of female nudity seriously and wants it formally addressed with a bill that he has introduced this week.

Specifically presented as a solution to the rampant destruction brought about by nude women gyrating to loud music is a “dance performer” permit and registry. If Ortiz’ bill passes muster, it would require that the Labor Department create such a registry and issue permits to exotic dancers, who would be required to provide their full legal names every three years in exchange for being granted the right to work in the adult industry.

…

Any performer who does not have a permit would face a $20 fine for a first offense and $50 for any further violations. Those dancers who do not have permits but are found to have been forced to perform would not be fined. Clubs that repeatedly hire “un-permitted” dancers would be forced to pay as much as $2,000 in fines.

It seems to me that if the assemblyman really wanted to help these ladies, he would (1) stop erecting obstacles to employment and (2) not create a database that would be rife for abuse by stalkers. It would also probably make it much harder to change industries and leave your college job at Scores off your resume, if any future employer doing a background check could access this database.

Ron Paul GOP Debate Remix

I know it’s felt like Ron Paul Central around here lately, but this new video from Rescue U.S. is too cool to pass up.

Forget the Rutgers women’s basketball team — the Ron Paul Revolution could be the real Cinderella story of the year… or maybe of 2008.

Save Our Fairgrounds from the Prohibitionists

The great Audrey Silk, founder of C.L.A.S.H. and the 2005 Libertarian candidate for NYC mayor, has been sounding the alarm on Governor Spitzer’s prohibition of the sale of tobacco products on the state fairgrounds. Now Audrey is ready to take action in court, and she needs your help:

After careful consideration, conferencing with a vendor that is directly affected, and consulting with three different attorneys, it’s my determination that this is a challenge we might actually be able to win!  Each attorney was baffled as to how they can get away with interfering with commerce and livelihoods this way — based on nothing more than a “I don’t like it so you can’t sell/buy it if I have anything to do with it” attitude.  There is little else to back the state up on its policy decision.

Anyone tempted to dismiss it as “just one little place” and/or “just one state” should be forced to sit through the NYC Council hearing tapes as they weighed a smoking ban.  NYC Mayor Bloomberg is to blame for bans that now stretch around the world. 

Anyone who has been a member of C.L.A.S.H. for any good amount of time knows that I resist ever asking for anything but your time to make a phone call or write a letter.  I believe that in seven years C.L.A.S.H. has only asked twice for a financial contribution for a specific effort.  But I find this latest act so reprehensible and so frightening that I’ve worked up the nerve to ask you to contribute to this legal fund.  It will be an Article 78 proceeding and though not massively expensive it is not cheap either.  The total cost is estimated at $10,000.  I will be throwing in $1000 of my own (not C.L.A.S.H.) money.

As I put it to someone else:  Salt in the wound is reading quotes from anti-smokers in newer news items about OTHER anti-smoking efforts and they’re pointing to the cigar sales ban at the Fair to say how great everything is going for their anti-tobacco efforts! To not challenge this is to let them think they can ride their high horse over anyone anytime because no one does.  The arrogance level on their part is so nauseatingly high and demands some cold water.

Audrey has set up a page where you can read more about the suit and make a donation. I’ve contributed, and so should you.

Ron Paul’s Success is a Total Sham…

…according to Rick Klein at ABC news, that is. Us crazy, internet loving bunch, have, according to Klein, “mastered the art of ‘viral marketing,’ using Internet savvy and blog postings to create at least the perception of momentum for his (Ron Paul’s) long-shot presidential bid.”

The clear premise of Klein’s argument is that the internet is an unsubstantiated source of true public opinion. As Klein asserts, “(Ron Paul’s) MySpace profile boasts nearly 12,000 ‘friends.’Today, his name ranks in the Top 10 among blog search terms at Technorati.com, behind Paris Hilton but ahead of Mario Lopez.”

His only ‘concession’ to us libertarians, and other kooky internet-savvy fiends, is a quote from Peter Greenberger:

“(Ron Paul’s online support is) evidence of something - either passionate supporters, active supporters, or just one very savvy supporter who’s able to vote several thousand times.”

Perhaps a few ‘eccentrics’ are willing to vote for a politician not backed by mainstream media. Klein could have critiqued Ron Paul for his politics, but went for a culturally-ignorant attack instead. The fact that internet polls, blogs, and the like have shown overwhelming support for the candidate, can only be reduced to a fluke of unscientific means of collecting data, at least to Klein.

If a so-called ‘popular opinion’ has been falsely manufactured, say, by multiple false votes, the evidence pro or contrary generally lies in whomever or whatever is being voted for. Under Communist rule, “popular opinion” is generally skewed by a controlled media. Evidence also points to, at the very least, that an inefficient polling system in our democratic system has led to a false representation of public opinion here in our current era, in our current voting system.

The internet has given voice to a previously, relatively, voiceless population; namely, those who are not elitists, or at least not associated with them. The amount of false-manufacturing or skewing that numerous internet polls and blogs could possibly propogate would surely pale in comparison to the monolith of the mainstream media machine.

It is elementary to reduce opposition to internet support or fringe candidate success to elitist conspiracy. However, Klein’s obvious reduction of internet opinion as merely unsubstantiated is short-sighted and ignorant. True popular opinion has hardly mattered in mainstream voting booths, so why shouldn’t the population turn to the internet for a projection of their voice?

According to Klein, Libertarian vision has inundated mainstream media with support for Paul. “After Thursday night’s debate, the comment sections of several major news organizations - including ABC’s - were inundated with pro-Paul messages. Viewers raved about Paul’s commitment to abolishing the IRS, his steadfast opposition to a national ID card, and a forthright tone that bloggers said set him apart from the other candidates onstage. The Paul campaign did not immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail message seeking comment.”

Ah, yes. Be sure to mention email messaging. If Ron Paul’s staff cannot even respond to their beloved internet’s calls, then his support must surely be false.

The internet may not be the most effective or reliable voice of public opinion, but at least, as of now, it is uncensored. Whether the numbers add up or not, it is truly the best hope the average American has of voicing their unedited opinion. I don’t know about you, but I could only dream of producing millions of dollars in support of my favorite candidate. But at least I have this blog.

As Klien purports, Ron Paul is “…a libertarian nicknamed ‘Dr. No’ because of his propensity to vote against anything he believes contradicts the Constitution’s original intent — (but is he) poised to surge into contention in the GOP field? Not likely.”

Not likely, but at least his supporters are giving it their best shot. This shot may not come in millions, or even thousands of dollars, but our voice, through this unadulterated internet, is the best chance we have.

The Ron Paul Revolution Spreads Like Wildfire

Here’s a cool video of Ron Paul supporters around the country having fun with some real grassroots activism. Just goes to show you can sometimes make a big impact for only a few bucks, some elbow grease and creativity:

The NYC segments start at about 3:15 remaining in the video.