The Unseriousness of Gun Control Advocates

The gun control debate is burning again as it does every few years or so. Like the abortion debate, both sides dig in and eventually it settles down with no real change but return to stasis.

This time things are different and the outcome now is not as certain as it has been in the past.

This topic has been beaten to death throughout the blogosphere and twitter world but one thing I haven't seen is a liberal stand up and tell us what will happen if they get their dream of a "gun free America". They tout statistics about places that have confiscated weapons like the UK and Australia but they never seem to compare that to what an America free of legal weapons would look like.

It's pretty easy to look at a place, right here in the good old USA that has tried to ban weapons and see what the effects have been: Rahm Emanuel's Chicago. Some intellectually challenged libs like to throw the Chicago card out but then not to seriously debate the topic but to use that final, desperate bit of ammo; the race card. It's funny that liberals have used the race card so much over the last 15 years that it's affect has been blunted to the point of boredom. It's akin to having a bag full of kick-ass fireworks from Ohio and lighting them off. You light all the big ones off first and hear oohs and aahs from everyone. But in the end, you look in the bag and you have nothing but a pack of twenty bottle rockets you got free when you bought the big stuff. You light it off and it whistles and pops but it's kind of anti-climactic.

Anyway, let's imagine the perfect liberal fantasy world where America is transformed into what they want, a place where guns are illegal, illegal aliens are legal and abortions are free. Barack Obama has managed to subvert the Constitution even more than he already has and has managed to confiscate every legal gun in America and ban their sale. His new effort is the much-heralded War on Guns, which is modeled after Nancy Reagan's War on Drugs. If you are caught with a gun, you receive a mandatory minimum of 5-years for each weapon and an additional 2 years for every magazine over five rounds. Will places like Chicago be safer?

Now let's take this further; imagine that weapons are illegally smuggled into the US through Mexico using existing drug tunnels and other distribution means. Imagine hundreds of thousands of weapons flowing north through Juarez and Tecate. Who will buy these weapons? The government has already confiscated the formerly legal weapons using names from lists the government accumulated in the years leading up to the gun laws.

What the hell would America look like then? When only criminal have weapons, they will prey on those who don't. The law would have about as much affect on crime and mass shootings then prohibition and the War on Drugs has had. If you want to see the end result, just look at Mexico or, closer to home Chicago. Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the nation and has seen a huge increase in violent crime caused by guns. Roughly 25% of those crimes are ever solved. Imagine if that were to spread out south east and west. America would soon look like the Australia portrayed in the Mad Max series.

Those very same people who are advocating for repeal of our constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms would be the very same ones screaming for the government to "do something!!! The problem is that those who could do something will be unable to assist in stopping it.

Is Rahm Emanuel on th Way Out?

I would say he stick around a bit longer since every Democrat who bitched about him did it the way pussy libs always do it...anonymously:

Democrats in Congress are holding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accountable for his part in the collapse of healthcare reform.

The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

The share of the blame comes as cracks are beginning to show in Emanuel’s once-impregnable political armor. Last week he had to apologize after a report surfaced that he called liberal groups “retarded” in a private meeting.

While Emanuel has quelled that controversy by meeting with advocates for people with disabilities, on Capitol Hill he’s under fire for poor execution of the president’s healthcare agenda in the Senate.

"I think Rahm ran the play his boss called; once Obama called the play, Rahm did everything he could to pass it, scorched-earth and all that,” said a senior lawmaker, who added that Emanuel didn’t seek a broader base of Senate Republicans. “I think he did miscalculate the Senate. He did what he thought he had to do to win."

Blah, blah, blah. Emanuel is a vile political animal out of the gutters of Chicago. He cares about nothing else but ramming through the policies that mean the most to him and Obama. Obama was and remains an amateur and Emanuel was the one who supposedly knew the ropes. He famously said "You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste" when discussing the recession. He was the one who dictated the strategy of ramming through the stimulus and healthcare. He's the one who instructs Obama to play every side of an issue and to bail when the going gets bad. He's been bad for Obama and bad for the country.

Now if any Democrat would actually grow a pair and come out against him on the record we'd see a nice melee in the party of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Blagojevich/Obama Update

The very hot Kirsten Powers parrots me and says the Obama team has botched their first almost scandal and turned it into a real scandal.

Blago hires one hell of a lawyer and the impeachment process stalls. Bonus: He retains the power to select the next Senator. Nice job, Illinois legislature.

Karl Rove has some fun at the expense of Blago and Obama. Payback is most certainly a serious bitch.

Rahm Emanuel is on tape 21-times talking to Blago. Sweet.

Nancy Pelosi makes sure that Emanuel and Obama know who's in charge and it ain't them.

Drip, Drip, Drip; Emanuel Gaves Blago Senate List

It's been a long week for the President-elect with the Blago scandal breaking and his amateurish handling of it. Todays news on the scandal includes the fact that Emanuel gave Blago's people a list of what they considered "acceptable" Senate replacements:

Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday.

One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor's administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Can any of those people now be considered to take the seat with these revelations? Of course they were not involved as far as we know but aren't they now tainted?

Second, let us hear what they have Emanuel on tape saying. I'm sure the transcript would make for entertaining reading with plenty of expletives and quid pro quos discussed.

Fitzgerald can let this thing linger until January 20th and beyond because the scandals are always worse when hot confronted directly. Rahm Emanuel has allowed this to stain the transition team and the President-elect by clamming up and avoiding answering questions and has given us a glimpse into just how secretive the new administration will be. It's evident that hope and change will mean duck and weave instead.

Rahm Emanuel Up To His Neck in Blago Scandal

And don't be surprised if he's not the most senior administration official to be exposed.

This Fox News Chicago report says that Emanuel spoke to Blagojevich "numerous times" about the open Senate seat, which has to lead one to suspect that Fitz has him on tape. What did he say and when did he say it?

If Emanuel is proven to have offered anything or even done anything shady, Obama will have to oust him and his first few months will be ugly. Let's hope Fitz gets him under oath and asks the tough questions.

This could easily lead to Obama as it's already up to his Chief of Staff. The media makes it a point to note that Obama had nothing to do with this as they are covering for the man like they always have (like Johnathan Alter on Imus this morning saying Obama was too smart and too honest to get caught up in the muck of Chicago politics) but if there's even an inkling he was involved, it'll be a rough start for The One.